


Mutant Crush

by theycallmesuperboy



Category: Marvel (House of M), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - House of M, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, F/M, Incest, SORTA a house of M au, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-02 16:12:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4066339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theycallmesuperboy/pseuds/theycallmesuperboy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In society in which humans are the oppressed minority and mutants run the culture, ruling over all existing countries, religions, and politics, Pietro Lehnsherr moves in next door to Wanda, a Sapien who was adopted by the Maximoffs after being given up by her family, likely for what she was. </p><p>Pietro is a mutant with the ability to run faster than the eyes can see, and Wanda is only a human who is bullied for what she is, yet the unlikely pair fall head over heels for each other, unaware of who they really are to each other….</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mutant Crush

**Author's Note:**

> So, um. I just graduated high school. Like, five days ago. (I really wanted to finish this while I was still technically in high school, but it turned out much longer then I intended.) I started this right before the start of my senior year, and literally did not work on it AT ALL until I got out for the summer (at the end of April). 
> 
> Anyway, thanks to the ever amazing [Savvy](http://prouvairex.tumblr.com), my other half, who said "pietro is really adorable in this" and also beta'd this for hours. I love you. 
> 
> Wanda's parents speak Romanian because their native homeland of Transia (Sokovia in the film) isn’t real and doesn’t have an actual language. 
> 
> IMPORTANT: If you don't know the House of M universe, it's basically this: the relationship of Mutants/Humans is reversed to where the Mutants are the dominant, ever growing species and the humans are treated like crap after a (semi-peaceful revolution in the 70's). And like the original HoM universe, Wanda doesn't have powers, but Pietro does. Except this time, they aren't mutant royalty, but like everybody else.

Wanda awoke to her alarm beeping. She groaned, throwing her arm over her head, but it didn’t cover the shrill sound coming from her cell phone plugged into the far wall (for this very reason) so she reluctantly threw off the covers and got out of bed. She scrubbed her face with the palm of her hand, yawning, as she swiped the alarm off on her cell. She pulled on the long skirt she’d laid out the night before, and the shirt that was- probably- clean on the chair, and padded down the stairs to breakfast.

Her mother, Marya Maximoff, was already up, and staring out the kitchen window into the watery November sunlight as Wanda plopped down at the kitchen table. “Mom?” she said, and her mother jumped, startled.

“Oh micuţo,” _my little one_ , her mother said. “I did not see you there.” 

“Where’s dad?” 

“Right here, dragă,” Django Maximoff said from behind her. _Darling._ He kissed the top of her head, and rounded the table to sit across from her. He was fixing his tie as he looked over the paper in front of him. His wife glanced back out the window, “What is it, Marya? What has got you so worried you must stare out the window instead of at your beautiful daughter?”

“Dad!” Wanda protested, but smiled, reaching for the cereal. 

“What? It is true. You look so much nicer than me at your age,” he said with a huff, taking a sip from his coffee.

Wanda’s mother sighed, and with another glance out the window, said, “I think someone bought the house next door. The sign was taken down last night, and now there is a moving truck.”

“Sit down, my wife. Is it so bad someone bought the house? Maybe they have someone Wanda’s age to accompany her,” Django said. He grabbed a slice of toast, sticking it in his mouth as he flipped the page. Marya lifted the jug of orange juice off the counter and placing it on the table, sitting down next to her husband.

“But what if they’re-” she said, worriedly, “mutants?” That caused Django to glance up, but he didn’t comment. “I hope they know this is a primarily human neighborhood.” Wanda’s mother didn’t like the term _sapien_. Even though that’s what they were- all of them, mostly, in the neighborhood. The Rogers lived next door- until Steve’s wife got alzheimer's a year ago, and had to go live in the home- and the Morses across the street, and the Bartons, with their little kids, three houses down. An older mutant lived a couple houses down, but none of the Maximoffs knew what her gift was. She kept to herself, and that was enough for Wanda’s parents.

It wasn’t that they _hated_ mutants, but sometimes they worried about mutants moving into the neighborhood. When mutants and sapiens mixed, things usually ended up worse for the sapiens involved. And then, if mutants started moving in, it was more likely that the sapiens in the area would be forced to move out. _Gentrification_ , her mother liked to say with a shudder. They’d moved in fifteen years earlier, when Wanda was just a toddler, because it had been a “nice place for sapien children to grow up” because they knew, even then, Wanda wouldn’t be a mutant like all her friends at the pre-school.

“Oh shi-” Wanda said, standing up suddenly, glancing down at her phone, “I have to go! Bye, Mama!” she said, kissing her mother on the cheek and grabbing her backpack, heading out of the house. 

Outside, she saw the moving truck parked on the street outside the neighbor’s house. Crossing the street to the sidewalk, she saw a sharply dressed man enter the house with a few cardboard boxes floating in behind him. _Definitely not sapiens,_ she thought. Behind the truck there were more boxes piled, but they were disappearing one by one as she watched. Someone- or something- was carrying them into the house, a faint blue trail passing from the door to the truck and back, stopping only briefly enough for Wanda to catch a glimpse of a boy with white hair, even though he looked about her age. 

But then, the boy skidded to a stop in front of the last two boxes, and looked up at Wanda. She could see that he was actually her age, roughly, lanky and slim, _like a runner,_ she realized. But he was still staring, an odd look on his face; she blushed lightly and looked away, embarrassed she’d been caught staring. When she looked up again, the two boxes were gone, and so was he.

* * *

She learned his name the next morning in homeroom. He wasn’t there the first day- Wanda didn’t blame him, even with apparent super speed, unpacking was a lot of work- but by the second day everyone had heard about the new student. She had no idea how, but gossip spread quickly- apparently his father moved from the city trying to give him a bit more of a home, which was practically a waste at this point, since they were all graduating in a few months. 

Standing up in front of the class, he introduced himself as, “Pietro Lehnsherr,” confidently. He smiled at the room, and caught Wanda’s eye as he passed her, sitting a few rows behind her. Wanda tried to recall why she found the name so familiar, but shook it off to one of _those_ names, like Smith, or one shared with an actor. Shortly after, they were released to classes, and she didn’t see him again for a few days.

He didn’t ride the bus, and since he could have easily run, Wanda didn’t expect him to have a car, but the following evening there were two cars parked in the driveway, and a light in the upper window mirroring hers.

* * *

Wanda was running late to AP Calc. She’d shoved her things in her locker before third, but her backpack had gotten stuck and pulling it only caused the bag to tear. “Ugh,” she grunted, frustrated. She’d been running late all morning and she hadn’t even brushed her hair, so it was wild and messy. She looked a mess- she _was_ a mess. 

Just as she pulled her books free, someone slammed into her, knocking all her books to the ground. They just bounced back off with a harsh laugh and a sneered, “ _Sapien_.” Wanda didn’t even see who it was, they rejoined their friends, a small crowd Wanda had known since she was little, but parted ways with around the time all of them gained powers, and Wanda stayed as she always was.

She crouched down to pick up her books, ignoring them. Suddenly, her neighbor Pietro was kneeling in front of her, reaching for her books. 

“Sorry about them,” he said, “I don’t know why they think that’s funny,” he shook his head, “That would never have happened at my old school-” he looked up at her, grinning, and her breath caught in her throat. His eyes were _very_ blue. “I mean, it couldn’t have, it was all mutants, but Professor X never would have let it happen.” He handed her the textbooks, “I can still go tie their shoelaces together so they trip as they’re walking,” he offered.

Wanda shook her head, shoving the books into her backpack. He offered her a hand, and when she took it, he pulled her up. “No thanks, I can handle it.”

“What’s your name, by the way?” he asked, still holding onto her hand. “I meant to ask, I mean, you live right next door-”

“Wanda Maximoff,” she said, and pulled her hand back. She glanced up at the clock, “Don’t you have to get to class?”

He shrugged, “I can get there in two seconds flat.” 

* * *

Friday night found Wanda sitting on her bed in her largest sweatshirt on her laptop. It was getting chilly; a cold front had come in on Wednesday, and everyone had started coming to school all bundled up in jeans and hoodies, Wanda included. Over the past few hours, she’d checked her email twice, and besides three new offers from colleges to tour, and a single spam email, she hadn’t gotten anything new. She’d also listened to the entirety of Alison Blaire’s latest album, _Brightside Fantasy_ , and put down her mom’s copy of _Wuthering Heights_ after only a chapter. She was kinda bored, actually. But surfing the internet regardless, because that’s what you do on a Friday night when you’re seventeen and have exactly two ‘school’ friends- ya know, the kind you never talk to outside lunch but have their number anyway, because ‘friends’?

That was Luke and Jessica, who both actually had powers, but got them the old fashioned way- being exposed to horrible toxic chemicals, which Wanda would happily pass on, thank you very much. Well, that wasn’t fair to the two of them. They’d all been friends in middle school, but when the two of them started dating in the 9th grade, Wanda saw less of them, and it seemed they all drifted apart, and were only friends for the sake of shared history. 

Wanda sighed and fell backwards, hitting her pillow just as she thought she heard a light tap, like on glass. She glanced around, but nothing seemed amiss until she sat up again. She heard it again, _snick!_ A few seconds later, again, and then again. Figuring it was some sort of odd rain dripping on the roof- although the widow was dry- Wanda ignored it until it became too much to bear. She turned, looking for the source of the sound until she saw it- something hit the window. _Snick!_  

Who on earth could possibly be throwing things at her window? She thought, slightly annoyed, as she put her laptop to the side, climbing out of bed to march to her window. Maybe they had the wrong house, maybe- “ _What_?” she said, voice slightly harsher than she meant it to be as she threw open the window and stuck her head out. Looking down, she saw the culprit- her next-door neighbor, Pietro. He was poised to throw another pebble, by the looks of it, but lowered his arm when he spotted her. 

He looked at her almost sheepishly, and said, “Sorry, I didn’t have your number. Wanna come over and do homework?” 

“Oh,” Wanda said, and then thinking for a moment, she nodded. It couldn’t hurt, and it was probably more productive than what she’d been doing. She shut the window, latching it, and grabbed her notebook from the desk, and headed downstairs. Her parents were in the living room, with a good view of the front door when she came downstairs in her flats, betraying her intent to leave the house. Not that it was a secret, it was just homework. _Wasn’t it?_ She didn’t _think_ it was anything else, not really. She hardly knew Pietro. 

Mayra looked up from the television, and asked, “Where are you going?” In her lap was a sock she’d been meaning to darn for weeks, while her husband was working on another one, squinting down through his glasses. 

“A friend’s,” Wanda shrugged.

But her parents looked at each other, and her father said, “A _boy’s_?” 

“Well, yes but-” Wanda started, but her parents actually looked- happy, and her father hurried to stand up.

“Do you need the keys?” he asked, moving towards the kitchen where he’d left them on the counter, but she shook her head.

“I’m just going to walk,” she said, “Don’t worry, it isn’t far.” Her parents wished her luck- yet exchanging more delighted looks- before she exited the front door, locking it behind her. She supposed they were just happy she was leaving the house for once, and seemingly had actual friends. There weren’t too many sapien-friendly groups in the area, and once everyone’s powers started to develop around puberty- along with a couple more gender-related things, the line between her and them was even more divided. 

She hurried across the lawn to the Lehnsherr’s, where Pietro had apparently already gone back to, and knocked on the door. Pietro opened it immediately, and she would have thought that he’d been waiting next to it for her to knock, if she hadn’t seen just how fast his powers made him. He’d probably been up in his room- it mirrored hers, as most of the houses did in the subdivision, and she’d seen glimpses of him through the fluttering curtains.

“Wanda!” he said, and stepped aside, “This is uh- my house, my room is upstairs.” She nodded, giving him a smile, and followed him in, glancing around at the house. While it _was_ a mirror of hers, it still seemed remarkably nice, with a mostly stainless-steel kitchen to the left, and the living room to the right. It still seemed clear that two men lived there, and like an interior decorator had decorated the place with impersonal touches. There were a few photographs she noticed- one of Pietro as a small child, and one taken somewhat recently, with what looked to be his father. It was a formal portrait, with Pietro standing behind the man, who was sitting. Their expressions were very stern, and nothing like the look Pietro had on his face at that moment. 

The man in the portrait shared Pietro’s steely eyes, but his face- Wanda gasped, “That’s your _dad_? I’ve seen him on the news!” She couldn’t remember for what exactly, but he’d been linked with mutant-related politics for the past few years, as she remembered. 

From the stairs, where he was watching her, Pietro nodded, looking somewhat embarrassed as he said, “You comin’ or what?”

Wanda straightened up and smiled, “Yeah,” following after him. The two of them climbed the staircase, exiting at Pietro’s door as he once again held the door open for her. Inside, it was much more personal. He had a few posters tacked up, one Wanda recognized was Jazz E Jazz’s ‘Kind of Blue’ tour poster from last year, along with a few others she didn’t. His room was in perfect shape- it probably took him less time than it took her to travel across their yards.

Being at school a week meant that Pietro didn’t have much homework, but he’d been on different levels of study at his last school, so there were confusing parts he hadn’t gotten to, and other stuff he’d already covered that he helped her with. Wanda had her Economics book open on the table, and he was frowning at his own AP US History notes. 

“We covered Economics last year,” he said, pointing to the correct answer in Wanda’s book, “but we also had a lot of weird subjects, like super gym class where we all learned how to use our powers and stuff. I excelled in that,” he said, and then to Wanda’s curious look, “Uh, Xavier’s was kinda like a boarding school for mutants, where we got to focus on that stuff rather than just school, so I’m kinda behind,” he admitted.

“Don’t worry,” Wanda said, “luckily for you, _I_ took AP US last year. You just have to worry about the true-false questions, they’re meant to trip you up- one word changes everything.”

Pietro sighed, and flipped through the book. If Wanda hadn’t been staring, she might have thought he was just flipping through it, but his eyes were moving quickly but subtly, and it looked as though he might _actually_ be reading it. He looked up, catching her staring again. She shut her mouth, realizing it must have been gaping. This time, he just looked a little bit perplexed. “I’m sorry, was I doing the speed reading thing again?” she nodded. “I kinda forget I do it, it doesn’t seem fast to me- it happens when I get bored,” he quickly said, “Not that you’re boring, Wanda! I just don’t like this history stuff. Why should I care about our first openly mutant president, JFK?” he shook his head, “I wish we were still doing the Greek unit in English, _that_ was interesting history.”

Wanda laughed, “I don’t think _Medea_ is really considered factual history.”

Pietro shrugged, his head propped in his hand, staring off in the distance. He perked up, “I know it’s only been like an hour, but this stuff isn’t due till Monday. Wanna play Xbox?” 

“I don’t know how good I’ll be at it,” Wanda said, the chair scraping noisily as Wanda stood up. It turned out Wanda was very good at it- first timer’s luck, and dexterous fingers. When Wanda finally glanced at her phone, she was halfway through laughing at Pietro’s frustration at Wanda beating him at his own game. She wasn’t _really_ great, but she could tell he didn’t often play multiplayer. She hushed him as her laughter died, picking up the phone to her mother’s third (nearly) missed phone call.

“Mom?” she said as she heard her mother’s relieved sigh, and a yell of, “She’s alright, Django!”

“Mom!” Wanda called again, louder, as Pietro paused the game and slouched father into his bean bag next to her. It was nearly ten at night, they’d been playing for hours. For once, it seemed, time had flown by, instead of crawling. 

“Wanda, darling!” she said, “We’re so relieved, we were starting to get worried, you weren’t picking up! Are you having fun with your friend?” 

“Sorry, we were playing _Captain Marvel vs. Sentinel X_ , and we lost track of time-” Wanda said, Pietro slouching down even further into his chair, now staring at the ceiling. He was humming along with the load screen’s music, which was on a short, seemingly endless loop. 

“Are you coming home soon?”

“I’m uh, actually on my way now,” she said, miming a shh at her friend, which got an amused look from him out of the corner of his eye. “Bye, Mom,” she said, hanging up. She put her hands on her knees, apologetic, “I’m sorry, it looks like I’ve gotta go-”

Pietro was suddenly sitting up, nodding, “It’s okay, you’ve probably beat the crap out of me as much as I can take for a night, anyway,” he said with a grin.

She followed him closely as they traveled downstairs, and he opened the door for her.

“This was fun, even if we didn’t get much homework done,” Wanda laughed, as they lingered in the open doorway. It seemed that Pietro’s father had gotten home sometime when they were upstairs, because a second car was now parked in the driveway. She hadn’t heard anything at all, and he hadn’t come up at all to check on them, like he was a ghost. 

“You’re pretty cool, Wanda,” Pietro said, standing in the doorway, with his arms crossed. 

She smiled, “Thanks for inviting me- we should hang out again sometime.”

He nodded, and if it seemed a little eager, it was probably just because he didn’t realize he was using his powers, _right_? She turned to leave when he said, “Wait- Wanda, I didn’t get your number.”

“Oh,” she said dumbly. She hadn’t realized that he’d actually wanted it. 

She repeated it out to him, and he nodded, memorizing it on the first go. “I’ll text you mine, alright?” This time, she nodded, pulling away from the doorway, glancing back at her own house.

“I’ll see you on Monday, Pietro,” she smiled, turning away as she gave a little wave in the darkness. He shut the door quickly, but she could have sworn she saw a flash of white in the light of the upper window overlooking the lawn as she marched home.

And if she had a warm feeling in her chest, and a nervous tickle in her belly, she didn’t think more of it, even as he texted, “Goodnight, Wanda,” when her bedroom light flashed out half an hour later. 

* * *

It wasn’t the first time Wanda had missed the bus. She just called her mom, who would be there _as soon as she could_ , and then left the building to wait in one of the bookshops a few blocks away. Passing the football field, Wanda saw a familiar sight in black jogging gear. He apparently noticed her too, because a second later, Pietro was leaning on the fence, his arms crossed over the top of it. 

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

He bit his lip, as though he was contemplating whether or not it had actually been a good idea to come over there, rather than just wave. She hadn’t heard any more from him the rest of the weekend, which she’d spent binge watching _Charmed_. She always liked things with witches and magic, which probably came from her parents’ Romani heritage. 

“So I joined the pre-season track team,” Pietro supplied.

“You’re on the track team?” she didn’t know why she was so surprised. 

He shrugged, “It’s just for fun, I can’t compete because of my-” he waved his hand, “‘ _unfair advantage_.’” 

“Oh. I’m sorry.” He shrugged, “It doesn’t really matter, I couldn’t compete at my old school either, although we had a team for people with mutations similar to mine.” 

Behind Pietro, at the equipment, a few people were staring at them while warming up. One of them was Bobby Drake, a junior in one of her electives. He looked ridiculous in shorts and a tank while everyone else was in sweaters, but that was the nature of his mutation. 

“Lehnsherr!” the coach barked, waving his clipboard, and Pietro looked sheepish.

“Sorry, gotta go. Talk to you later, neighbor?”

She nodded and waved, watching him sprint away towards the coach. 

* * *

Monday had officially been a part of Spirit Week, but it was ‘School Colors Day,’ so nearly everyone got points just for showing up. Spirit Week was the start of the homecoming week, ending on Friday night with the Homecoming football game, which Wanda was mostly likely not going to attend. She’d attended a few with Jess sophomore year, when Luke was on the team, but she hadn’t been to any lately, and didn’t plan on going to any soon. She also wasn’t going to the Homecoming dance- she could have, if she wanted to, but… it wasn’t quite the same if she didn’t have anyone to go with. 

But during spirit week, Jess had promised to attend some of the days with her, where they dressed up according to the theme, and tried to win points for their class. The seniors always won- as part of the ‘they’re all leaving’ thing, but it was still fun. Tuesday had been pajama day, which involved everyone rolling out of bed and coming to school, and Wednesday was ‘what-not-to-wear’. Wanda borrowed Jess’ leather jacket, because that was something she’d never wear on her own, and wore it over one of her red dresses, pulling her hair up in a ponytail. 

She felt self conscious about it, because it really was nothing she’d ever wear, and almost took it off a few times, but as she went to her locker to stuff it in there, she spotted Pietro in the hallway. He was with Domino and Toad, and a few others, standing at the end of the hallway. None of them, including her neighbor, looked any different than they normally did. Through chance, when her eyes raked over the group, and landed on Pietro, he looked directly at her, and his lips parted in surprise. She knew he was looking at her outfit.

“Wow, tell me that wasn’t part of your ‘what-not-to-wear’ outfit? Because, sweet Christmas, that looks _good_ , Wanda,” she heard Luke say from behind her. 

Wanda spun around, and said, “Oh hi, guys.”

Jessica nodded, “You do look good. You should borrow it more often.” The two of them, on the other hand, looked very ‘what-not-to-wear.’ They both looked like they’d stepped out of the eighties, with Luke wearing a workout shirt ripped up the sides, short shorts- were those Jess’s?- and a sweatband around his head. Jess was wearing a tutu and knee-high pink socks, and arm warmers. Wanda didn’t even know Jessica had arm warmers. 

“Well you two look ridiculous.”

“That’s the point,” Luke said, “what are you wearing tomorrow?”

* * *

Most of the bleachers were already full by the time Wanda pushed her way into the gymnasium. The senior section was, of course, roped off for other seniors like her, but there were always more students than expected and the seniors overflowed into the junior bleachers, and thus the juniors overflowed and so on, so when Wanda spotted a nearly empty row at the top of the junior/senior area, she took the opportunity. She sat down, and waited for the second pep rally of the year- the homecoming one- to begin by watching the principal attempt to herd all the students into the correct section. The occasional awkward squawk could be heard from the man, and the following giggle from all the freshman closest to him. His mutation was rather undignified, but made announcements so much more entertaining when every third word from the disgruntled principal was a squawk. 

“Can I sit here?” she heard a familiar voice say behind her. Standing behind her, on the step above, Pietro was staring down at the stage. Wanda nodded and scooched over, "Thanks, Remy skipped with his girlfriend, and I didn't really see any other familiar faces in the crowd,” he explained as he stepped over the bleacher and sat beside her. They were pressed in closely, shoulder to shoulder, and Wanda to a large pink Junior girl. 

Wanda nodded, "The crowd you hang with is too cool for this kind of thing, you'll learn." Since hanging out with him last Friday, she’d seen Pietro around the school with a few of the more infamous students at the school. They liked to call themselves the _Brotherhood_ , which Domino, the only girl in the group, didn’t like much, but she was outvoted, and it pissed her off. Which was maybe one-tenth of the reason she always had that scowl on her face, but it seemed to be permanent regardless of how happy she was. 

But then there was a loud, high pitched whine that was abruptly cut off as the principal regained control of the speaker system. “Welcome, welcome!” the principal started with false cheer. Wanda grimaced and expected the usual start-of-fall speech, which, after a long series of typical high school sports events, she got. She spent the first ten minutes of the speech absentmindedly twisting the rings on her fingers, and she noticed Pietro had a little twitch, rapping the bleacher seat impatiently. And then, like usual, there was the reminder not to use powers in the hallway, and to _not_ use powers on other students. It was hard to take it seriously when half of what they heard were squawks.

Pietro, who had until then been silent and watching the event with a critical view, said, “They clearly haven’t been enforcing that rule.”

“They never do.”

* * *

And just as Wanda thought, they didn’t stop using their powers in the hallways, using them on _her_. They’d apparently gotten word that Pietro sat with Wanda at the pep rally instead of the mutants, because the insults and taunts this time were centered around him this time. 

The name calling started up again even before homeroom. Man, Wanda was _not_ awake enough to deal with that. “What do you want?” she asked tiredly. This time, the group of tormentors was lead by a kid unaffectionately known as _the Blob_. As they approached, she said, “I don’t really feel like it today, Fred, go bother someone else.”

“ _Ooooh_ she called you by your human name,” Toad croaked, “You jus’ gonna let that slide?”

The Blob grumbled and said, “What, you don’t feel like being a mutant’s pet today? Your favorite mutant with some other girl?”

Wanda slammed her locker shut, and whirled around, looking him directly in the eye and pointing, “Mutant’s pet? You’re calling me a mutant’s pet, Fred?” she shook her head, “You wouldn’t have called me that when you had _a crush_ on me in the third grade!” She stormed off, angry, not noticing Pietro standing by his own locker poised ready to intervene, or how afterwards he went up to the group and told them to _cut it out_. And to _leave her alone_. 

* * *

Wanda’s head was still buzzing when homeroom started up a few minutes later, and barely even noticed the little wads of paper being thrown in her direction. They weren’t landing with enough accuracy to have been thrown by Domino, she thought when she finally noticed the paper getting stuck in her long loose hair, and Toad probably would have just spit on her, so when the teacher turned her back, Wanda whirled around. 

Two rows over and a couple desks behind, Pietro had shredded several sheets of paper and was making them into little paper balls set to get her attention. Instead of getting even more annoyed with the whole of the mutant race, she was actually somewhat pleased when he looked up and smiled, having caught her attention. There was something about him that felt inherently familiar, even before they started to hang casually. This time, when he threw a piece of paper, it was a larger, folded note. She caught it just in time for the teacher to turn back around. 

Wanda opened it in her lap, reading the words: “Wanna get out of here?” Taking a look at her perfect attendance so far this year, and all _that_ had done for her, she looked back, no longer caring if the teacher saw, and nodded. 

In the seconds the teacher had turned her back, Pietro was kneeling by her desk, and he whispered, “Brace for it.”

Before she had a chance to think about what that meant, Pietro had scooped her up, and had sped out the door and past all the students and teachers in classrooms, all the way out to the covered awning by the gym. He put her down gently, and as her head (and stomach) were spinning, he said, “Sorry, I had to get us out before anyone noticed we were leaving- uh, that feeling’ll pass,” he said, sitting down beside her, bumping his shoulder into hers, “It happens with everyone. My dad totally hates it.”

Wanda nodded, breathing in. She didn’t actually feel all that terrible, but it certainly was an experience, being pulled through the school at speeds over a hundred miles per hour. “Wow, thats- that’s how it is all the time?” she said.

Pietro nodded, “Yeah. I mean, I went slower because normal people aren’t made for my normal kind of speed, but yeah, that’s how it is.”

“Wow.”

“So…” Pietro said, picking at his sneaker, and then looking up at her, “Whatcha wanna do, Wanda?”

“I kinda want an Icee right now, actually,” Wanda said after a moment. Icees and things always made her feel better when she was a kid. And she’d kinda been craving a blue one recently.

“Can-do!” Pietro said, standing up, “As long as you don’t mind me carrying you again..?”

“Carry me?”

He shrugged, “I have a car, but they’d notice it was gone. It would just be easier for me to carry you.”

He offered her his hand, and she took it, pulling herself up with Pietro’s extraordinary strength. “Okay,” she nodded, thinking it probably wasn’t much different than last time. “Hold on, I’m just going to pull my hair back,” she said, taking a hair tie from her wrist and pulling her hair into a ponytail at the base of her neck.

“Okay just-” he said, reaching for her, almost nervously, “put your arms round my neck,” she stepped closer, and wrapped her arms around him, locking them together as he bent down and lifted her up with one arm under her legs, the other supporting her back. Even though they were roughly the same size, Wanda suddenly felt small and light in his arms. His face was only inches from hers, and she could feel his warm breath on her cheek when he breathed, “Ready?” She nodded, and pressed her face into his neck and-

Like the last time, the world was passing in such an increased speed Wanda could see nothing but colors and lights in the big blur of seconds Pietro was carrying her. He looked completely focused, his eyes seeing everything as he carried her- everything. His brain worked incredibly fast, she realized- it had to, to sort out all that information at the speed he was reccieving it. And then like before, almost too soon, it was over, and Pietro was letting her down gently, and away from his chest. When her feet firmly on the ground, Wanda released her vice grip around his neck, and as he started towards the store, she realized that she’d been reaching for his hand like it was second nature. She shook her head, and followed him in.

The cashier looked like the Loch Ness monster, with a fishlike face and scaly limbs, but it didn’t phase either of them as they traveled to the back of the 7/11. The machine only had four flavors: Cherry, Blue Raspberry, Cherry Coke and Lemonade. Grabbing a 12oz cup, Wanda paused in front of the machine. She had been craving a blue one, but now that she saw cherry…

Pietro, who’d grabbed a much larger cup size, saw her eyeing the two colors, “Ya know…” he said, “I’m gonna get Blue Raspberry, if you wanna go ahead and get cherry, you can have some of mine if you want,” he shrugged, and reached for the machine.

“Are you sure?” she asked, and he nodded as he pulled the lever. “Thank you,” she said, and reached for cherry. As soon as their cups were filled, they went back up to checkout. Both of them put their Slurpees on the counter, and the bored-looking employee started ringing them up. Pietro pulled out his wallet, when Wanda stopped him, putting her hand on his. 

“No I’ve got it,” Wanda said with a smile, “You carried me here, it’s only fair.”

He huffed, but relented, “Alright, but I’m paying next time.” _Next time_. 

The two walked out of the store into the cold air of mid-November. Wanda shivered in her light jacket, and Pietro bumped her shoulder with his as they slurped up their Icees. Pietro glanced up, squinting in the light, and then said, “Wanna go sit on the roof?”

“On the-” 

“The roof, yeah,” Pietro nodded and pointed to the roof of the 7/11. “If we climb the fence and then the dumpster we could totally sit on the roof, I do it all the time.”

Wanda eyed the fence wearily, but she did want to spend more time with Pietro, so… “Alright sure, but you’re going to have to help me. The only things I’ve climbed are the trees in my backyard. I get the feeling this is gonna be a little different.”

The two of them rounded the back of the store, and Pietro hopped the fence, Wanda handing him their drinks before he pulled her over. Then, she held them as he climbed onto the roof first, Wanda following. The roof was mostly bare concrete with a few metal structures, and the two of them headed to the back side and sat on the edge, hanging their feet off as they talked and shared Slurpees. They stayed out there all morning, well past finishing their drinks, barely making it back in time for lunch. 

* * *

"You don't really look like your parents," Pietro said, after throwing himself onto her bed. "I saw them downstairs." 

Wanda barely looked up from her computer. Her essay was due by Sunday evening, and she’d just barely started it, "I was adopted."

He shrugged, "I figured. What happened to your original parents?"

"They say I was born into a mutant family who gave me up when the sentinel tech identified me as human," she said with a shrug. A couple years before they were born, medical supply companies started repurposing sentinel tech, after they were decommissioned for being inhumane and against people’s constitutional rights, to identify babies born with the mutant gene, so parents could know early- kinda like the way they found out if it was a girl or boy. They were mostly removed from hospitals a few years back, because people were using them to screen for sapien babies even before they were born, and when they were identified as non-mutants, a lot of people world abort, like the way some countries were having mass genocides of little girls. But when both she and Pietro were born, they were in the prime of their usage, and well, her parents apparently hadn’t wanted her after that. 

"I'm sure I wouldn't have been very happy with a family who would have given me up for simply being born the way I was, anyway." She wasn’t complaining, she’d ended up with the best possible parents she could ever ask for. 

“Oh,” he said, quietly. “Whatcha doin’?” he asked, looking up at her from the bed. 

“My essay on _Wuthering Heights_ for comp,” she said.

“Oh I finished that in ten minutes, book and all.”

She wheeled around, “ _Book and all_?”

He nodded, “Yep.”

“ _How?_ ” she asked, staring at him with a stunned look on her face. From what she knew, he didn’t have super genius brains for a mutation. She knew his brain worked quickly, but that quickly?

He shrugged, “You remember when I said I can speed read?” she nodded, “I can also type so fast it lags the computer. Want some help?” 

“Have you read the book?” she asked, pushing herself away from the computer. He was behind her in less than a second, his hand on her shoulder, peering down at her essay. 

“Nope. Is it here?” he said, “I’m just gonna-” he said and in a second he’d searched her entire bookshelf and appeared right back in front of her, her eyes barely caught a thin blur as he moved. He flipped through the pages as she watched, the pages barely glanced at before he flipped them at an alarming speed. Then he dropped the book on her desk, and said, “Done!” Wanda was still staring at him, and he grinned, “Awesome, huh? Huh?”

Wanda shook her head, “Disorienting, more like. That’s probably one of your more annoying habits.”

“I have annoying habits?”

Ignoring that, “Now, what do you think I should do about the…” she began, pointing at a paragraph in her essay, and within half an hour, the two of them had completed the entire seven page essay. 

After that, they threw themselves on Wanda’s bed, and just hung out. Their feet were hanging off either side of the bed, as their heads were right next to each other, laying on their backs. Pietro suddenly asked, “Do you have any left over Halloween candy? I burned through mine in like, an hour.” Wanda had of course gone trick-or-treating, like usual. She loved the holiday, because you could be whatever you wanted and no one ever thought it was strange. Also, you got free candy. Wanda was still working through her bag, and it was sitting in the pantry just below the snack boxes.

“Yes it’s down in the-” Wanda started, but he was gone before she even finished, reappearing a few seconds afterwards with a large pink bowl full of candy, lying back down next to her with a shrug, “I just searched the entire kitchen.”

Wanda laughed as he bowl between them, reaching in to pull out a wrapped candy. As he munched on the Snickers bar, Wanda turned her head to look at him, and for a brief moment she thought- “ _Oh no_.” 

She realized that she might- have a crush on him. Oh no.

* * *

Pietro showed up at Wanda’s lunch table the following Monday, school tray in hand. “Can I sit here?” he asked. “I got an A on my essay on The Illiad.” 

“Yes, of course, all the seats are free-” she pointed across from her. There were several dozen round tables in the cafeteria, and there were the outside picnic tables. It was almost too cold for that, but there were always some students who didn’t mind the cold and sat out there all year. “That’s amazing! I still can’t believe you did the essay on the whole book.” He shrugged, but had a proud smile on his face, sitting down. 

To her surprise, instead of sitting across from her like her friends usually did, he sat right next to her. “Sometimes I sit with Luke,” Wanda said, poking at her food with the spork, “but he and Jess just got back together and have started making out again, I think he really likes her new pink hair or something, and I didn’t really wanna see that.”

Pietro nodded, commiserating, “Yeah, Toad tried to slime everyone’s food today and after Blob stealing everyone’s food last week, I think I’m done sitting with those guys,” he said, but she could tell that he chose to sit here, and not just because his other friends were gross. And Wanda couldn’t help it, a jolt went through her and she had butterflies again, because, she thinks, _he might like her too_. 

And that thought made her giddy enough to make it through lunch and all the way to her next class, giddy enough to draw stupid little hearts in her notebook, which she quickly scribbled out because _no_. Jess was giving her strange looks after class, and looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t. 

* * *

Wanda had stayed late after school again, but this time was to stay in the library for research for her comp midterm. They had to write a six page paper in an hour, and even though they were given the prompt a few days ahead of time, it was torture to have to remember all the things she’d planned. After an hour, she gave up and returned the book to the shelf, and texted her mom. Marya was working late, so she didn’t know when she’d be able to pick Wanda up, so she started her way towards the usual bookstore to wait. 

But on her way, she saw that track practice was still going on, and she could see Pietro running laps around the others- literally. He was smirking, and it looked like he was saying something, slowing down so they could hear him as he passed. He was still in his usual black jogging jacket, the one with white arrows down the arms. He wore it a lot of the time, even when he wasn’t running. Wanda was pretty sure it was his favorite. 

Instead of passing, she walked to the gate, opened it, and entered the football field. She climbed up to the bleachers and sat down, wrapping herself in her coat, and started on her calc homework. A few problems in, Pietro appeared beside her, breathing heavily, shaking the bleachers. 

“What’s up?” he panted, and Wanda fished her water bottle from her bag, handing it over wordlessly. He took it thankfully, gulping it down. “You aren’t cold, are you?” he asked when he was finished.

She shrugged, “It is kinda chilly-” in a moment, he stripped off his jacket, revealing his form-fitting underarmor shirt, tossing the jacket to her. “Wait, I didn’t mean-” she started, but he was already hopping down the bleachers. 

“Give it back after practice!” he yelled over his shoulder. He was assuming she’d wait for him; looking down at the jacket in her hands, she couldn’t help but smile. A few minutes later, he sent her a text of just: :)

After practice, he gave her a ride home in his car. 

* * *

Pietro had been sitting with Wanda at lunch for a week when it happened. Because Pietro was still considered one of the ‘cool kids,’ and was still somewhat friends with Wanda’s usual tormentors, he was immune to any kind of picking on for association with sapiens. And there was no fun in picking on people who could defend themselves, it seemed, and since Wanda was neither friends with them, nor capable of defending herself against mutant powers, she seemed to take on the blunt of their bullying. This year seemed especially bad about it. Wanda didn’t know if it was because they were jealous Pietro was talking to her, or because they felt like talking to a sapien was betraying their kind, and they’d chosen Wanda as their target.

She didn’t even notice, until a pea landed on her plate. Wanda frowned, and looked up. Pietro was frowning too, fork paused halfway to his mouth, and they heard giggling. And then she felt it- something soft and wet hit her in the back of the head. When she reached to pull it out of her hair, she realized it was a glob of mashed potatos, and her mouth dropped open when she realized what it was.

Pietro realized what they were doing too, and glaring, was suddenly at her side, rapidly picking the pieces of food out of her hair. They’d been _throwing food_ at her! There was another snicker, and Toad raised his arm, poised to throw another piece of food, but Pietro was there in an instant, grabbing his arm. 

“If you throw another piece of food at her, I’ll break your arm,” he said quietly.

Toad gulped, the spork in his hand clattering to the floor, nodding rapidly. Pietro released him, and rejoined Wanda, smoothing down her hair, checking for any more food. Wanda pushed him away with a roll of her eyes, “I’m fine, Pietro!” 

He looked like he didn’t believe her, but he went back to eating his food, and Wanda slouched in her chair, no longer hungry. Toad didn’t throw any more food, but Domino didn’t seem to be done, talking in a mock-whisper just loud enough for the nearest tables to overheard. 

“Isn’t it _pathetic_?” Domino said, leaning in towards one of the other girls, who just giggled, “She has a _crush_ on him.” Another giggle, this time from Toad too, “And she thinks she has a chance. Doesn’t she have any pride? She’s betraying her _kind_ -” 

Wanda stabbed the fork into her mashed potatoes, and whirled around. “So _what_ if I have a crush on a mutant? I’m not betraying ‘my kind’, mutants are people too, and I think all of you should know that.” Pietro was staring at her, startled, and her face was burning, but she stood her ground, shocking the group into silence, until the bell saved her from both being teased mercilessly for her confession, and having to face the object of her crush. She grabbed her bag, not bothering to throw away her tray, or look back at anyone in the room. 

* * *

Wanda could feel her face flush red as she saw Pietro in the hall just before the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. She ducked past him, catching sight of Jess at the end of the hall. She sped up to catch up with her, slowing as she reached. Jess turned her head, and smiled slightly, as Wanda asked, “Was it as horribly embarrassing to watch as it was for me?”

Jess laughed, “Yeah, but Pietro looked really hopeful, before you, ya know, stormed off,” she teased, bumping shoulders with her. Wanda ducked her head, she couldn’t help but smile. Jess laughed again, “There’s that smile.”

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around lately, it’s just-”

“Me and Luke?” Jess said. Wanda nodded. Jess sighed, and stuck her hands in her pockets, as Wanda pushed the doors open to the parking lot. “It’s been… rocky with us, too, lately. It’s just, senior year, you know?” Wanda nodded again. Application deadlines were coming up soon, if they hadn’t already passed, and AP classes took up so much time on their own. They’d even paid for their cap and gown last week- and it was barely three months into the school year. 

They’d reached Jess’ car, and Jess paused, “Am I taking you home?” She’d meant to take the bus and grab her mom’s car, but then she and Jess had started talking, and they’d somehow ended up in the half-empty parking lot. 

“Actually,” Wanda said, glancing down at her phone, at the time, “Do you mind taking me to Meg’s Diner? I got an interview there.”

“Really?” Jess said, unlocking the door of the beat up station wagon, “That’s great, Wanda!” Wanda pulled at her door as Jess unlocked it, reaching over the side. The wood paneling was faded, and the door stuck on the passenger side- Wanda having to pull it with all her strength- from a dent Luke accidentally made in the frame. It had over two hundred thousand miles on it, since the car originally belonged to Jess’s adoptive mother, and then her older sister, but Jess loved the thing more than Luke, probably. 

Wanda finally got the door open and dropped her bag onto the worn carpet, sliding in as Jess attempted to get it started. Finally it started up, and Jessica pulled it into gear, pulling out of her parking space.

“I’ve been _trying_ to get a job at the newspaper,” she said, looking around as she drove- she was the most careful driver Wanda had ever met- “But they said they won’t hire me until I’m eighteen,” she said, making a face. Her birthday wasn’t until March. She’d had a column in the school newspaper since freshman year, and she ran the yearbook committee; after a disastrous interest in becoming a private detective in sophomore year, she’d decided that she wanted to become a journalist instead. 

Wanda pulled at her skirt as the car made it’s way the few blocks to the diner just a little ways out of town. Parking outside, Jess asked, “You need me to stay and wait?” 

She shook her head, “Thanks, but my dad can come get me, it’s his day off.”

Jess nodded as Wanda shut the door, waving as the car let out a puff of smoke and drove back onto the road. Wanda took a deep breath, heading up the steps into the roadside diner. Inside, the waitress was looking bored at the counter, her long curly hair moving like it was alive. When she noticed Wanda, her hair picked up a pen, and her little notebook, and said, “Welcome to Meg’s, what can I get ya?”

“I’m looking for the hiring manager?” she said, a little nervously. “I have an interview,” she said a little more confidently.

The waitress dropped the pen, and her hair pointed, just like a hand, in the direction of the chef, a big man with an apron. “Greg!” she barked, “girl’s here for her interview!”

“I heard her, Kate!” he yelled back, wiping his hands on his apron, and grabbing the pen and pad from the counter, as well as what looked like Wanda’s application, and  lifting up the counter with his third arm. 

Wanda and her parents had come to the diner a few times before, and she and Luke had come after a football game once, one of the only ones Wanda had ever been to. Even with the pressures of senior year, Wanda found herself with a lot of free time- some of which was now being taken up by her neighbor- and she figured that with almost a year left before leaving, another job might be a good idea. She’d only had one job before, working across the street from the school at a bakery- mostly washing dishes and that kind of thing- that closed down, and she hadn’t really tried to do anything since. 

The chef sat down at one of the empty booths, and Wanda slid in in front of him. The guy nodded in the waitresses’ direction, “Personally, I don’t see how it’s sanitary, but she worked here before I got hired, so,” he chuckled, and then noded to Wanda, “So kid, what can you do? Tell me it’s not like the last kid who tried to get hired here- friends called him ‘Maggot’ or something, you can guess why.”

Wanda hesitated, knowing she should have expected this kind of question, but she’d hoped it wouldn’t come. “I don’t have any. I’m a h- sapien,” she winced. The interview was already off to a bad start. 

She saw the man’s face change, subtly, but he didn’t really try to hide it. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, as the man scribbled something down on the notepad, and then asked her a few things about her references, and continue on with the interview. She made him laugh, once, but even as he checked a few boxes on her application, and scribbled more notes, she could tell his heart wasn’t in it. 

“That’s all the questions I have, kid,” he said, and pulled himself up. He paused, and Wanda expected him to say something like, ‘ _We’ll call you,_ ’ or something, which she knew he wouldn’t, but instead he said, “I’m going to be honest, here, we aren’t really hiring right now.”

Wanda wanted to scream, _‘You were hiring five minutes ago!’_ but instead, she just nodded, and shook the man’s hand, before stepping out of the diner, and calling her dad. After she hung up, she sat down on the steps, trying to calm herself down, now that she was outside. She was just… _so_ frustrated, and filled with emotion, but she _wasn’t_ going to cry. 

A few minutes later, the car pulled up and Wanda got inside, slamming the door a little too hard. Her father raised his eyebrow, and asked, “How did it go?”

“I didn’t get the job,” Wanda mumbled.

“Eh? You had all the qualifications! It isn’t that hard to wash dishes!” he said, “Do you want me to go talk to them?” he started reaching for the keys, but Wanda jumped.

“No!” she was quick to say, “it’s okay,” she lied. He looked at her dubiously, but didn’t push, just turning up the radio and humming along. 

The more she sat, the more her thoughts swirled around in her head, and just made her- _so_ upset. She clenched her fists tightly, and bit her lip, jumping out of the car as soon as it rolled into the driveway, and running up to her room. Dropping her backpack on the floor, Wanda couldn’t hold it back anymore, tears pricking in her eyes as she started to cry. As she dropped down to the floor, her back to the wall, she didn’t notice the curtains shifting in the window mirroring hers.

She was still sobbing- _irrationally_ , she told herself- a minute later, when her door opened and shut quickly, a blow of displaced air moving her hair, and causing her to look up and gasp, startled. “Pietro!” she said.

He was standing in front of her, awkwardly, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened, but I kinda saw you crying from my window and-” he said, and shoved a half-empty box of oreos at her. “I don’t want you to cry, Wanda.” A second later, he had one of her pillows in his hand, and was offering it to her, and then, as she accepted the pillow too, he came back with a wad of tissues, awkwardly offering them to her. It startled a laugh out of her, and then a hiccup. 

She wiped her eyes, taking the oreos, “Thank you,” she said, her voice scratchy. 

He dropped down onto his knees in front of her, his hands in his lap, as he asked, “Wanna talk about it?” she was nibbling on an oreo, and looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes through watery lashes, and he was quick to say, “You don’t have to! I mean, if it’ll help?” and then he said, “Oh god you probably don’t even want me here, right? I should probably go-” he rambled, but she grabbed his hand, and shook her head.

“Stay.”

He was quick to nod, and flipped his hand to where it was on top of hers instead. He was watching her closely, worried, until she finally said, “I applied for a job- and it’s not just, not just that I didn’t get it. It’s- why I didn’t get it, you know?” she said, with another little hiccup, “It’s discrimination, the _supreme court_ decided, to ask about species on an application, but they _always_ ask anyway- I just saw his face change when I told him I wasn’t a mutant-” and she started crying again, pulling her hand back to cover her face. Pietro looked somber, and through her stupid tears she blurted out, “I heard back from my early decision yesterday, and they denied my application- I had _all_ the qualifications, except they asked, for ‘ _statistical purposes_ ’ if I was Homo _Sapien_ or _Superior_ , and I knew that was it- even Fred got accepted, when he thought he was graduating last year!” 

Pietro looked increasingly more distressed, and didn’t know what to do, so he just crawled over to her, pushed the thing of oreos away, and sat next to her. He put his arm around her, and he said, “I’m so sorry, Wanda.”

“And it’s-” she almost sobbed, “so hard not to get angry,” she said, “It’s just so hard to get all these doors slammed in my face all the time. And I- I can’t change anything! Thirty years ago, half the world were humans, and now there’s less than twenty percent of us. ‘ _The arrival of the mutated human species in any region was followed by the immediate extinction of their less-evolved kin,’”_ she quoted. “That’s me, Pietro! It’s so- unfair! I don’t even _want_ to be a mutant, I just want to stop being treated like a freak all the time!” 

Her fists were clenched, but she’d finally gotten to say all the things she was holding back, and for the first time in a while, she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Next to her, Pietro looked thoughtful, but didn’t say anything. There was a frown on his face, and finally he said, slowly, “I had no idea it was this bad for sap- for regular humans,” he said. Then, determined, “If it was me, you’d be my first choice.” 

Wanda didn’t look at him, yet, instead she fiddled with the oreo packaging, and then held it out to him, with a watery smile. He grinned, and took one with his free hand. She pulled one out herself. He munched on his, but she was still picking at hers, when he pushed the locks of hair out of her face, and then- he kissed the side of her head. 

She was still smiling down at the box of oreos even twenty minutes after he left.

* * *

After that, it seemed, Pietro became a permanent fixture in her life. He always showed up to lunch, he bugged her in comp and homeroom, and they texted incessantly. For Pietro, it was like the world around him was slowed, but with Wanda, it seemed like she was the only one who could keep up- or at least, the only one capable of slowing him down. And for that, he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. With as much time as they spent together, she felt like she should have hated it, but… instead, she just wanted to spend more time with him. She wondered if this was what it felt like for all the girls in novels, after they met the boy that changed _everything._  

For the first time in her life, her parents actually had to remind her to put away her phone at the table. Her bean soup was growing cold, and Wanda’s parents exchanged knowing- delighted- looks, until her mother finally cleared her throat, “You can text this mysterious boy after dinner.”

She smiled sheepishly, “Sorry Mama,” tucking her phone into her pocket. 

Halfway through dessert, her phone started buzzing, and when she pulled it out, she saw Pietro was calling her. She looked up, and asked, “Can I be excused, please?” 

Django winked at her, and her mother smiled and nodded, as Wanda ducked out of the room into the hallway, and as soon as she swiped, Pietro’s voice came over the phone, “Wanda! Wanna watch a movie or something? I finally got my Netflix password from my daaaad!” 

Wanda laughed, “Want me to come over or do you wanna come over here?”

“Considering I stole this from my dad’s study, I should probably leave the house and never ever come back. I’ll be there in five?”

“What happened to the guy who read five hundred pages in twenty seconds?” 

“He says he’s giving you time to tell your parents I’m coming, if you want. Not that they’ll see me, but-” she could practically see him shrugging. 

She laughed again, and said, “Alright, I’ll see you in ten- I mean, five. I’ll shoo my parents to their room. They probably won’t go, I’ll just tell them you climbed up to my room or something.”

“Right, kay, bye.”

“Bye,” she said, hanging up. She turned back to the kitchen, where her parents were trying to look like they hadn’t been attempting to eavesdrop. Her mother suddenly busied herself with washing a pot, and her father stuffed half of his slice of pie into his mouth at once. “Alright, I know you two were listening,” Wanda said, and they didn’t even bother to look guilty, “So Pietro is coming over to watch Netflix- he wants to use his for once- so can you please go to your room and act like you would if a girl friend was coming over?”

Django shook his head, “I would act the exact same way, how do we know you don’t like girls too?”

“I don’t! So please? Just this once? You can meet him later!” she glanced at the clock, two minutes till he was coming.

“Fine, fine,” her mother held up her hands, but winked back at her husband as Wanda pushed them towards the door. Little did they know he would already be gone by the time they decided it was safe to sneak back out to see him. 

A minute later, there was a knock on the door, and Wanda stood up quickly, glancing in the hall mirror to make sure she looked okay, and hurried to open it. Pietro was standing there in a hoodie and jeans. His face lit up when he saw her, “Hi.”

“Hi,” she said, and stepped aside. 

He followed her into the living room, asking, “Did you tell your parents I was coming?”

She nodded, “They’re probably going to sneak out here halfway through the movie, but here’s hoping.” 

He shrugged, “At least they care enough to sneak out,” he stuck his hands in his pocket, “Not that my dad _doesn’t_ care, you know, he just doesn’t really pay all that much attention to what’s going on with _me_. Work, you know?”

She touched his arm, and he just smiled- albeit a bit sadly- and she picked up the remote turning on the tv. He typed in his account info, and then sat back on the couch with her. He put his arm on the back of the couch, and Wanda reached for the remote from him, and started moving through the movie lists. “What movie do you wanna watch?” 

Pietro squinted at the TV, and asked, “What about that one?” He seemed distracted, biting his thumb- she did that sometimes. She looked to the movie her remote was paused on. 

“No it’s terrible!” she said. “You really don’t watch movies much, do you?”

He shook his head, “I’m more into music and stuff,” he admitted, “You seem to know what’s good, why don’t you pick?” 

Wanda shook her head, “Pietro, watching a movie was your idea! You didn’t have anything in mind?” Pietro shook his head. She frowned, “Then why’d you wanna come over?”

“I wanted to spend time with you,” he said with a shrug, but utterly sincere. “Google said watching a movie was a good excuse to do that.” The way he said it made it sound almost like... _a date_. But it wasn’t. Was it?

“Oh,” Wanda said, and settled back into the couch, tucking her feet up under her. She used the remote, going through a few selections, before deciding on one she’d never seen, but had heard good things about. _Tiger Eyes_. Pietro slouched into the couch with her, casually putting his arm around her as she leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder as the movie faded in from the credits. It was… comfortable. 

Pietro was really into the movie, only looking away from the screen- to look down at her- when Tiger kissed Wolf. Wanda held her breath, almost afraid to move, but the moment passed, and he rested his cheek on the top of her head. Wanda didn’t know what she was so afraid of- what, that he might actually like her? Or of how much _she_ actually liked _him_? It didn’t matter, though, because nothing happened. 

But when it was over, and Pietro had gone home, Wanda felt… oddly unsatisfied, like something else _should_ have happened. _Like a kiss_ , her traitorous mind supplied. This feeling sent her downstairs at well past midnight, craving a bowl of cereal. Apparently she wasn’t the only one who had this idea, because sitting at the table in his own pajamas- though thankfully not a nightgown like Wanda’s- was her father, already munching on a bowl of his own. He looked up, and smiled with his mouth closed, and slid her the box. 

As she was reaching for a bowl from the cabinet, her father asked, “We didn’t see Pietro arrive, did he not come?” She _knew_ they were looking from their bedroom onto the street. 

Wanda shook her head, pulling a single bowl down, said, “No, he did, he probably just slipped past you two.”

Django looked mock offended, “Nothing slips past us two!” making Wanda laugh like when she was a little girl. 

* * *

Pre-season track practices, like those during season, were almost every day- including Saturday. Pietro hated them- he didn’t really mind getting up that early, but he hated missing the early morning cartoons. Wanda, on the other hand, hated getting up any time before ten in the morning, especially when she didn’t _actually_ have to be anywhere. But when Pietro snapchatted her a selfie of him frowning on the track, waking her up… she was already awake, after all… 

Fifteen minutes later found her on the bleachers of the school track with a novel in hand. She climbed to the middle of the bleachers, giving herself a good view of the track, and those on the team. Some of the pole vaulting equipment was set up, and the track team were all standing around stretching. She spotted Pietro over by the water cooler, and Bobby chatting with one of the other boys. 

Wanda was only half paying attention to practice. She’d been holding her book up when it was suddenly pushed down, causing her to look up, startled. Pietro was standing in front of her, his hair a little windblown and messy, and he looked a little sweaty, and she didn’t wanna know exactly how much running he’d actually done to appear as though he was actually tired. He frowned, a little confused. It was cute. “What are you doing here? We didn’t have school today.”

“I just wanted to spend time with you,” she said with a smile. “You like this stuff, even if you can’t actually compete. And I like you.” A heartbeat later, Wanda realized what she’d said, but she wasn’t going to back out. It was _true_ , she liked him. And she was pretty sure he liked her too. 

“Oh,” Pietro said, and climbed over the bench she was resting her feet on to sit next to her. 

She found herself staring at his lips. They were pink, about the same shade has hers, and three shades lighter than his bright red nose. It was _freezing_ , already well into December, and the last week of school before the Christmas break. Well, technically, it was the ‘Holiday’ break, but no one called it that, even though Wanda was very, very much not a Christian. She was Jewish, but no one ever called it the ‘ _Hanukkah_ break’ even though the two holidays weren’t even the same thing!

Wanda realized that she was probably still staring at Pietro. He raised his eyebrow, and she flushed, probably pinker than she already was from the cold. 

“Won’t they miss you?” she asked, nodding in the direction of the track. The hoard of Pietro’s teammates were running around practically huddled together, and the coach was yelling at them, despite wearing at least three layers himself. 

Pietro shrugged, “Coach probably still thinks I’m running laps out there.”

She nodded, and stuck her hands in her pockets, glancing down. When she looked up, instead of staring out at the track, Pietro was staring at her. At her lips. 

Wanda was suddenly very aware of how close Pietro was. She didn’t know if he’d moved closer without her knowing, or if he’d always been that close, but he was only six or seven inches away from her, his blue eyes meeting hers. He looked nervous, but steady, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from her face, coming in closer, slowly. Wanda held her breath, not wanting to break this- spell. Pietro’s eyes still hadn’t left hers, but she closed them anyway, as he closed the distance, his lips meeting hers. His hand was still on her cheek, where he’d brushed the hair away from her face. 

The kiss was relatively chaste as she leaned into it, and it seemed like it lasted forever, but it was probably just a few seconds. He pulled away, their noses brushing, as they laughed breathily. Their eyes met again, and Wanda couldn’t help but meet his grin.

“LEHNSHERR,” they heard the coach bark, standing halfway across the field, interrupting them. “STOP PLAYING FOOTSIE WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND DO WHAT YOU’RE HERE FOR,” he yelled, pulling them out of their little bubble. 

Pietro turned back to Wanda, whispering to her with a smirk, “Is that what they’re calling it nowadays?” Wanda giggled, and before he stood up, he squeezed her hand. He turned his attention back to practice, practically hopping down the bleacher steps two at a time, while yelling, “NO ONE SAYS THAT ANYMORE, COACH.”

* * *

Pietro wasn’t at her locker, Monday, nor his own, and his car was still in his driveway when she left for school, and Pietro was _never_ late. Wanda frowned when she entered homeroom, hoping he wasn’t sick, or worse- avoiding her. She kept glancing at the door- homeroom was just about to start, and Pietro could easily slip in after it started, but he never did. 

There was barely a minute left before the bell when Pietro finally ran in- straight to her desk. He looked like he was on a mission- he slammed his hands on her desk, and blurted out, “Will you go out with me?”

Wanda was so startled that for a minute, she just stared. People were _staring_. But Pietro- Pietro was only looking at her. Oh. Right. "Yes?" 

* * *

School had been out for two whole days, and so far Wanda had done a whole lot of _nothing_. She hadn’t quite kicked the habit of waking up before eight in the morning- that might take a few more days- but she did spend most of her days in bed, since getting up was _so much work_. Pietro, on the other hand, was more of a morning person. He’d be up and texting her all before school, normally, all after taking a jog around town. 

Sunday morning, Wanda woke to a text from him asking if she was free that afternoon, there was something he wanted to show her. Before heading down to breakfast- pulling on a sweater along the way, sometime during the night the cold had crept in- she sent him a quick ‘ _yes_ ’ and there wasn’t a ten second gap before he spent a reply of ‘good. I really wanna show you this thing.’ and she didn’t hear from him until well into the afternoon.

Around two, which, being December, was only a few hours from sunset, Wanda received another text from Pietro:

_‘WEAR PANTS I’M GOING TO BE AT YOUR HOUSE IN FIVE’_

Well, that wasn’t cryptic at all. But she obeyed, changing from her pajama pants- which she’d been wearing all weekend, into actual pants, wondering where he was planning on taking her on a Sunday afternoon. It was hovering in the low thirties, and the sun hadn’t even set yet, so she pulled on a sweatshirt over her long sleeves, and grabbed her coat, hopping down the stairs two at a time. “Mama! Dad! I’m going out with a friend!” she yelled, and when she didn’t hear any protests, she sat down at one of the dining table seats, waiting. She’d been been waiting barely ten seconds when there was a knock on the door. 

“Hi,” Pietro said, as soon as the door swung open. He’d already grabbed her mitten-clad hand, and was excitedly pulling her out the door, “I can’t wait for you to see this place- I mean, I can’t wait to see it either, but I-”

“Slow down!” Wanda laughed, pulling the door closed behind her. Pietro was wrapped up in a scarf too, but he wasn’t wearing a hat like she was- all that running around probably generated a lot of body heat. “What are we doing?”

“You’ll see!” he said, and pulled her towards his car, parked at the end of her driveway. “I saw it when jogging around the area this morning and I-” he stilled.

“Pietro?” Wanda said, concerned. They were still holding hands.

“Sorry,” he said, with a pause, and a shake of his head, “I just realized this is probably not first date material.”

“ _Whatever_ it is, I don’t mind,” she hummed, “It’ll be an adventure.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, concerned, “I mean, we can always go to the movies, or dinner, or-”

“Yes I’m sure!” Wanda said, exasperated, “Pietro,” she said, taking his head in her hands, making him look at her, “You had this all figured out, just take me where you were going to take me, okay? I wanna see it.” And then she kissed his cold lips, briefly, and then pulled back with a smile. “Lets go, please! It’s getting cold out here.” Her larger coat was bundled up in her arms, mostly because she looked like a giant pink marshmallow when wearing it. She was hoping to save it for emergencies, because ‘marshmallow’ was not her most flattering look. 

“I promise I’ll take you on a real date, next time,” he said, from the other side of the car, unlocking it. Wanda liked the warm feeling that spread across her when he said _next time_. 

The street they lived on was not exactly on the outside of town, not at all, but they weren’t exactly in the middle of town either. Everyone had large yards, and the houses behind them were hidden by fences and trees. It was still a little bit of a drive to get out of town, though, which was clearly where Pietro was taking them. Wanda spent the entire trip staring out the window, until Pietro pulled off onto a smaller, dirt road. Wanda perked up, lifting her head off the doorframe as they turned off. 

“Are we here?” Wanda asked, looking out the window. “ _Where_ is here?” Her breath was fogging up the glass. He’d just barely traveled down the dirt road when he came to a stop just in an open field quartered off by a fence. When Wanda opened her door, she saw the looming structure behind it- it looked like an abandoned factory.

“Isn’t it _cool_?” Pietro asked, nearly buzzing with excitement, again. “I saw it when I was jogging, and I almost went in, but-” he turned to her, “I thought it would be cooler with a friend.”

“Wow, I had no idea it was even here,” Wanda said in amazement, stepping closer to look at the building through the rusted fence. “You can’t see it from the road.”

“I know! Come on,” he waved, sticking his foot in one of the lower holes in the fence, hoisting himself up. “I can’t wait to see what it’s like inside.”

 _Oh_. He’d meant for them to explore it, not to just look at from afar. Which should have seemed fairly obvious, but. 

Wanda glanced at the ‘no trespassing’ signs posted on the fence, and hugged herself tighter, “Oh I don’t know, Pietro. What if we get caught?” 

Pietro was already at the top of the fence, with one leg on either side, looking down at her, "Wanda, I _never_ get caught. Whatever happened to ‘it’ll be an adventure’? Gimmie your hand so I can pull you over," he said, offering his hand. She bit her lip, and took it. He pulled her up, when she stuck her foot in the fence, like she weighed nothing. They helped each other down on the other side, Wanda shivering as they landed, feet firmly on the ground. 

“And Wanda, please put on your jacket, I don’t care if you look ridiculous,” he said, seeming to know exactly what she was thinking. “I happen to think you look cute in pink.”

Wanda pulled the coat on with a huff, and Pietro grinned, taking her hand. “Come on, I wanna explore this place!” he said, leading the way across the field.

Though it was hours from sunset, the place wasn’t as horror movie-esque as Wanda had always pictured abandoned buildings might be. There were a lot of shattered, grimy windows she could see from the outside, and they ducked around a lot of creepy doorways, complete with peeling paint and rust, as they tried to find a way in. The only sound they could hear was their breath in the wind, and the groan of the seemingly locked door as Pietro pried the door open with a board. He took her hand again, and the two of them stepped inside.

The factory was really large, and _really_ rusted. All the poles along the walls and the railings were rusted, as were the machines all along the first floor. It looked like a textile factory, with big machines for weaving. A few of them still had rotten thread on spools, and all of the walls had graffiti on them. The two of them wandered around the first floor- exploring several little offices they found, though all of them were empty- and by the time they were finished, it was only a little while till sunset. 

Pietro found the stairs to the second floor, which had a walkway across the whole building, and a few more offices. While walking across the walkway, looking down at the machines, Wanda stopped and leaned on the railing. Pietro paused with her, since they were still holding hands, and just watched her as she stared down. “What are you thinking about?” 

Wanda shook her head, “I don’t know.”

“Not as cool as they made abandon buildings seem in movies, huh?” She smiled, and shrugged. “Wanna go?” she shrugged again, and the two of them made their way outside, finding the door they came in through.

When they stepped outside, ducking huge beams that were propped up against the building, Wanda realized it was twilight already. They traipsed their way across the field to the fence they’d hopped, and she could see the car through the fence. She released Pietro’s hand, starting to climb the fence, she realized Pietro wasn’t beside her. She hopped down, and turned. He was looking behind them, out towards the field. 

“Pietro?” Wanda said.

“Wait,” he said, turning to her. “Look at the sky.”

“What?” it was getting pretty dark outside.

“The stars, Wanda!” 

 _Oh_. They were only a few miles from town, but the stars were so much brighter, even though the sun hadn’t completely set. “They’re beautiful.”

“Lets stay and look at them, for a little while,” Pietro said, offering his hand again. Wanda nodded, taking it. The two of them found a nice patch of only _mostly_ dead grass, and watched the stars. 

* * *

By the time they got home, it had started snowing. "Pietro- it's snowing!" Wanda said, sitting up in her seat suddenly, "Oh I always love the snow," she said, grabbing his hand. She released it and opened the car door instead, stepping out onto the concrete of his driveway. She stuck out her tongue, trying to catch a snowflake, but the little blobs of snow fell more often into her hair than her mouth. 

Pietro joined her, sticking out his own tongue, going cross-eyed as his eyes followed a single flake down to his tongue. Wanda giggled, and he grinned, messing up his concentration. She stepped out into the yard, her tongue stuck out, and arms spread wide, watching as the flakes slowly built a layer on top of the grass. They tried to catch every one that fell, dashing as soon as they caught one, and they both knew Pietro really could have caught them all, but he’d much rather stand there watching Wanda try to do it, in her giant pink coat. 

Her tongue was still sticking out, and Pietro was watching her, for longer than he’d thought, because Wanda turned, and asked, “Why do you keep staring at me like that?”

He blurted out, “Because you’re beautiful.” 

She laughed, and in a moment of daring confidence, she pulled him in and kissed him, snowflakes falling in his white hair.

* * *

By the next morning, it had snowed heavily, and there was a foot of it in both their yards. The street had been cleared early that morning, so both their parents had headed to work, but had it been a normal Monday, and not winter break, it would have been a snow day. Wanda woke to snow on her window, and pancakes in the fridge from her mom. 

After breakfast, Wanda pulled on her snow clothing and marched across her yard to Pietro’s. She banged on the door, and as soon as it opened, she pointed to him, and said, “Get changed, we’re making snow angels.” Half a second later, Pietro was back in his own snow clothes- all lime green- and a huge grin on his face. Wanda grabbed his hand and pulled him out and into the middle of his front yard- his was so much bigger than hers, despite almost identical houses on the lots- and fell backwards, taking him with her. 

They made half a dozen snow angels before Pietro shivered awkwardly, sitting up in his latest one, and said, “I just got snow down the back of my shirt.”

Wanda made a face, and said, “Wanna build snowmen instead?”

Pietro shook out the snow from his shirt, and perked up, holding out a hand for her. “Absolutely.”

They started with the snowballs. Wanda was busy packing one in her hand- a look of extreme determination on her face- when suddenly she was hit in the chest with a lightly packed one, which exploded all over her. Her jaw dropped, and she looked up, to Pietro who was wincing. “Wanda I’m-” he started, but he was cut off by a snowball to _his_ chest. “Hey!”

“Serves you right!” Wanda said, reaching down to scoop up another handful of snow to pack into a ball. 

“Alright, it’s war!” Pietro declared, jogging over into Wanda’s yard, opposite from Wanda herself, who was still making balls over by the Lehnsherr’s stoop. He plopped down on the ground and started pulling snow towards himself, ruining one of the snow angels they’d made, to build a little fort. Soon enough Wanda was pelting snowballs at his fort. “Hey!” he said, sticking his head up above the little wall, “I’m not done building my fort yet!”

“Too bad!” Wanda said, sticking her own head up above the top of her fort. She launched another snowball at him, just barely missing. Pietro scooped up half a handful, and threw it at her, but missed spectacularly. He could hear Wanda laughing from across the lawn. When he’d built up a small arsenal, Pietro launched them all at only a _slightly_ faster pace than was possible for a human- he _so_ wasn’t cheating, Wanda!- causing Wanda to shriek and throw her snowballs at him. She had excellent hand-eye coordination, apparently, because she hit him almost every time, and when he stood up to get a better angle, a whole mound of snow dropped off him. 

Wanda stood up too, only dropping back down to gather more snow. When Pietro wasn’t looking, she snuck over to his side and dumped an armful of snow onto him. He yelled, and then tackled her into the snow, rolling them over to where he was on top of her. Her face was pink, and so were her cheeks, and her grin was bright, mirroring his. Her hair was splayed out in the snow, and her hat had fallen off in the tumble. 

Wanda pushed him off, playfully, “Get off! You’re heavy!” 

Pietro rolled off, and laid beside her, swishing his arms up and down to create another snow angel, “I am _not_. I probably weigh the same as you!” 

“Then _I’m_ heavy too!” she said, scooting over to make herself another snow angel. “Now what? Are you ready to go inside yet?”

Pietro shook his head. “No way! It’s just starting to snow again!” he said, and he was right. Snowflakes were starting to drift down, and one landed on Wanda’s nose. 

She sat up and smacked her forehead, “Snowmen! We were gonna build snowmen!”

“Oh right,” he said, scooping up a handful of snow next to him, molding it into a ball. He hopped up, and Wanda followed, making a ball for herself, pushing it around the yard until she had something big enough for a base. She and Pietro pushed them next to each other in the middle of his yard, apparently thinking the same thing. “Snowmen us?” Wanda nodded.

They compiled another two layers for each of them, struggling to lift them up on top of the bases. Between the two of them they managed it, and then went around back to find any sticks to use as arms. They also found a couple of rocks to use as eyes and buttons, and they jogged back to stick them in the snowmen. Pietro swiped Wanda’s hat off, and stuck it on her snowman, “Hey!” she protested, but didn’t really mind. She grabbed him by the scarf and pulled him down for a kiss, stealing his scarf.

“ _Hey_!” he said, but really didn’t mind at all, grinning as she wrapped it around his snowman’s neck. 

“You don’t even need to give him hair, it’s already white,” she said, as they took a step back to admire them. “I think they look rather good, don’t you?”

Pietro nodded approvingly, and then said, with a thoughtful look on his face, “I think we should build our whole families, don’t you?”

Wanda nodded, “Good idea.”

After they each built another snowman, and then Pietro helped Wanda build a third, they left Wanda’s two just next to the sidewalk, close to her own yard, but still in the Lehnsherr’s, and Pietro had built his closer to the mailbox. They both dashed inside their individual houses, raiding their parents’ closets, and came back outside with armfuls of stolen clothing for their snowmen. Wanda had grabbed her father’s puffy vest and her mother’s hat and scarf, and Pietro had- “I was gonna grab that one hat he always wears to work, but then I remembered _this_ -” he said, excitedly, holding out a weird magenta helmet at arm’s length, “He keeps it on display in his study, and I have no idea why he has it, but it would look hilarious on snow-dad.”

They fixed up the rest of their snowmen, and stood back to admire them. Wanda’s little snow-parents looked happy and smiling with their celery noses- they were out of carrots at both houses- and Pietro’s Mr. Lehnsherr was set to wave menacingly at the mailman with his metal helmet. 

“Ready to go inside now?” Wanda asked. The cold had seeped into their clothing and her socks and bones and- Pietro nodded, almost childishly. His nose was red, and he wiped it on the sleeve of his coat as he followed Wanda across the yard to her house. 

Wanda pushed the door open and breathed a sigh of relief in the warm kitchen, pulling off her coat and unwrapping her scarf, dropping them both on the table, and pulling off her snow pants. Pietro did the same, leaving a pile of slightly-wet outerwear in the kitchen. 

“Wanna watch TV?” Wanda asked, wandering into the living room.

“Or something,” Pietro said, following her, hands stuck in his pockets. 

They dropped onto the couch, snuggling comfortably, when Wanda asked, “What do you wanna watch?”

Pietro shrugged, and turned to her, his arm around her shoulder, and said, “I would rather do this,” and kissed her. Wanda smiled into the kiss, eagerly responding. His mouth was warm on hers, his nose cold as it brushed her cheek. His cold fingers on her arm moved to cup her face as he deepened the kiss. It was probably horribly sloppy, as she opened her mouth to him, but she didn’t mind, she _liked_ it. Clearly he did too, because he was responding enthusiastically. When they finally pulled apart, he was grinning. 

“I didn’t know you could kiss like that,” he said.

“ _I_ didn’t know I could kiss like that,” she said. “I was kinda just copying you,” she admitted. 

“Well I couldn’t tell,” he said, shaking his head. He was perched on the end of the couch, having moved off her, his arm on the back of the couch. He rubbed the back of his head, “I mean, I’m probably not the best judge. I’ve only really had one other girlfriend, and that kinda.. fell apart, because we were way too young, you know?” One _other_ girlfriend. 

Wanda nodded, even though she didn’t really know, because she’d never actually dated anyone before. It hadn’t really seemed like a priority, especially looking at her options at the school. “You’re the second person I’ve ever kissed,” Wanda told him, “and the only person I’ve _really_ kissed. I once kissed Simon- you don’t know him, he graduated last year- at a party in middle school, but that was…” she shrugged. She’d _liked_ Simon, but she never did anything about it after that, and neither had he, so it just didn’t pan out. Maybe it would have, in another life. 

Pietro shifted, nodding, but he didn’t realize how close to the edge he’d been, because a little to the right and he fell backwards off the couch. 

“Ah!” Pietro yelled, landing on the floor with a loud _thump_. Wanda knew it was terrible, but she couldn’t help but giggle, covering her mouth. “Ow. Okay, clearly that was a sign that I should be doing something else. Like lunch. Do you want lunch? It’s like, three hours past lunch time.”

Wanda giggled again, “Yes I’d like lunch. I think we even have food in the fridge, probably.”

“That’s good,” he said, groaning as he pulled himself up off the floor, “I don’t think C hinese would deliver today.”

* * *

"Want a poptart?" Wanda asked, holding out the box, as they raided the pantry. Pietro was at her side in a second, tearing plastic wrapping open and piling the poptarts on the table. "Or twelve," she said, rolling her eyes, tossing the empty box onto the table. She’d have to remember to throw it out, later. 

"Sorry," he said, nibbling on the third in as many _seconds_ , "I have a higher metabolism than normal people to keep up with all the running." He stopped talking and started shoveling the poptarts in his mouth. 

"That's disgusting," Wanda said, watching with morbid fascination. 

" _You're_ disgusting," he said, mouth full, and she laughed. Brilliant comeback. 

* * *

At dinner, her mother asked, “Wanda, isn’t that your hat on the neighbor’s snowman?” and then, looking out the window, “Is that _my_ hat?” Wanda nodded. “I really hope they don’t mind you built snowmen in their yard.”

“I really don’t think they will,” Wanda said with her mouth full, hiding a smile. She and Pietro did end up watching tv, on the couch, with bowls of cereal in their laps, and later more slightly-awkward making out. But Wanda didn’t really mind the awkwardness, because she liked Pietro, and wanted to try these things with him. 

Pietro texted her later, telling her he’d been grounded for life forever for building snowmen with his dad’s stuff, but it was still out there the next morning, so Wanda knew Mr. Lehnsherr wasn’t as bad as Pietro made him seem.

* * *

The next day was the first day of Hanukkah. Wanda’s family lit their Hanukkiah in their dining room that night, reciting three blessings before kindling the first light in it. While it was burning out, the Maximoffs ate the latkes she and her father always made together, as wells as greaves with onions, which her parents had always eaten in their homeland around the holidays. Her parents always gave her money, as a gift, each of the nights. They said it was to pay tribute to gelt, while still giving her something she could actually spend. Each night, they’d give her a dollar for each of the candles lit. A few years back, when Wanda entered high school, they’d offered to give her actual gifts each night, rather than the thirty-six dollars it totaled up to, because they were worried she was being left out from all of her friends, but Wanda told them that she didn’t want that- she was happy if they were happy, and what made them happy was giving her money as part of the tradition. 

While it burned, she and her parents played dreidel, exchanging Hanukkah gelt and loose pocket change while her parents told the same stories of their families in Romania. On her way to the bathroom, Wanda passed the window, where she could see the Lehnsherr’s lit Hanukkiah in their window. 

The following two nights they followed the same tradition, lighting the Hanukkiah, starting with the attendant candle, and reciting blessings, and lighting the candles in order.

Friday morning, Pietro came over after her parents had left for work for the day, dropping down on her bed with a groan. “It’s been like, three days, and my dad is already driving me crazy. He took _all eight_ days off, Wanda, all eight days!” he groaned again, and rolled over, “I was just barely able to escape, while he was distracted when his friend Charles called- I haven’t spent this much time with him since last Hanukkah!” he said. 

“He probably just wants to spend time with you, Pietro,” Wanda said patiently. “You’re his only child.”

Pietro huffed, “He’s always talking about how _important_ this time is for family, since _his_ parents died when he was young, and how this time of the year are _some of his only happy memories_ \- yeah I overhear him talking with Professor X a lot- but I wish he didn’t try to shove all the family bonding time into one week of the year.”

Wanda was quiet, thoughtful, before she moved from her desk chair to lie down next to him. She was on her side, watching him, as she asked, softly, “Whatever happened to your mom? You don’t ever mention her.”

Pietro was quiet, still staring up at the ceiling. “I don’t know,” he finally said, quietly. “I don’t think I ever met her. She might have died, or left my dad after I was born, but he doesn’t talk about her, ever. I’ve never even seen a picture of her,” he said bitterly. Wanda was still watching with wide, sympathetic eyes. “He said we lost all the pictures when we moved when I was a baby, but I think he might have purposely thrown them out.” He sighed. “It’s probably a good idea I look like him, otherwise he might have- I don’t know. Thrown me out, too.”

Wanda put her hand on his shoulder, a comforting touch, “Don’t say that, Pietro. I’m sure your father loves you very much, he’d never do anything like that.”

He sighed again, “I don’t know, probably not.”

“I’m sorry, about your mother, though,” she said.

“It’s hardly any different than what happened with you,” Pietro said, finally looking at her. 

Wanda shook her head, “I have a mother, Pietro. Her name is Marya Maximoff, and she _loves_ me. Those other people don’t matter.”

He put his hand on top of hers, “I don’t understand the world, Wanda.”

She shook her head again, but then, “Oh! I have something for you,” she sat up, and pulled the top nightstand drawer open, pulling out a blue-and-white wrapped bag, with a large blue bow on it. “It’s for Hanukkah. I always get Jess and Luke something for Christmas, and my parents always get me stuff, and I picked this up when we were shopping for latke stuff.” She handed it over, and he hastily unwrapped it with a look of delight on his face. It was a supersized bag of Hanukkah gelt. “You really like candy, and everyone likes these,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what else to get you.”

“No, I _love_ it,” he said, hugging her. “I love candy. I’m probably addicted, Wanda,” he said seriously. “I got you something too,” he said, “I, uh, forgot it, though, in a rush to get away from my dad. I’ll run back to get it, but if I’m not back in a minute, it’s because my dad has caught me and locked me up.”

“Please don’t get caught and imprisoned by your father,” Wanda said, and he was gone. Two minutes later, he was back, groaning, again, but this time with a tiny, badly wrapped present. 

“He caught me,” Pietro said, “he let me go, but only if I promised to be back in an hour. ‘ _This is family time, Pietro,_ ’” he mimicked, with a sigh. “But here,” he shoved the present at her. As she unwrapped it, he said sheepishly, “I wasn’t sure what to get you, and you’re always wearing jewelry, like those earrings you’re wearing now, so…” he said. 

Wana gasped- among the paper was a beautiful leather and chain bracelet, “Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful, thank you,” she said.

He shrugged, but she could tell he was pleased that she liked it. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, thanking him again. She pulled the bracelet on and pulled him back down to lie next to her, lacing her hand with his. For the remaining hour they had until Pietro had to go back to hang out with his dad, they did a lot of nothing, but neither of them minded, it was a comfortable, time-passing nothing. 

* * *

That night they lit the candles before sunset, setting up for Shabbat the next night, reciting blessings and lighting the long-lasting candles, since they couldn’t light any fires on Shabbat. By the time Shabbat was over, apparently Pietro’s dad was getting quite sick of him too, because Pietro was coming over more often, with no time limits. So they watched a lot of TV and Netflix, and spent a lot of time texting each other (Pietro detailed more of his father’s conversations with his friends, including someone named Raven, who Pietro said was probably one of the cooler mutant friends of Mr. Lehnsherr’s.) 

On Christmas morning, Pietro plopped, face down on Wanda’s bed, after a particularly bad snowstorm the previous night. Their snowmen were caked with ice, and Wanda’s parents were still in bed. Wanda certainly hadn’t bothered to change out of her pajamas. 

“I _hate_ the cold,” he said, muffled by her blankets. Propping himself up, he said, “It was bad just coming over here, _across the yard_. I would very much like to go somewhere with a beach, if you would like to accompany me.” 

Wanda laughed, and kissed his nose, “Just enjoy it.”

He dropped back onto the mattress, muffledly saying, “I won’t.” 

* * *

The remainder of the winter holiday passed with dates and binge-watching Netflix and the realization that Wanda’s parents had never actually _met_ Pietro, as much time as she was spending with him. It wasn’t on purpose, and it certainly wasn’t a secret, her parents knew she was seeing someone, but it just never seemed to come up. They were always gone when he came over, or she went to his house, or he sped by when they were home.

They knew she was spending time with him, but they didn’t know for sure until two days after Christmas when Wanda was in her room, trying on her mother’s earrings because she had a _date_. With a _boy_ , Django! Wanda had never seen her mother so delighted. 

* * *

A few days after school started up again, things started to go wrong. Of course, they didn’t start out that way. In fact, it started out wonderfully. Her parents were _happy_ she’d met someone, and she’d even had Jess over for a girl’s night where her mother braided their hair up, and made them pancakes at midnight, while they all watched cheesy girl films like The Notebook and 90’s films Jess loved. 

But then, everything went haywire. She’d been at Pietro’s all afternoon, but when she saw her parents pull up next door, she and Pietro stepped outside, and she kissed him goodbye on his doorstep, and happily trekked across the yard to help them with the groceries, her cheeks as pink as the beanie on her head. But her parents were staring, big bags of groceries in their arms, because they had no idea their daughter was dating the- _boy_ next door.  

“Wanda, who was that?” her father asked, stilted, as she reached in the trunk, pulling out the last bag of groceries. 

“Oh, that was Pietro- I thought you two knew by now,” she said, and marched into the house, the two of them following behind with concerned looks on their faces. Wanda hadn’t noticed, and was putting the groceries from her bag into the refrigerator when her mother spoke. 

“We knew you and Pietro were- dating- but Wanda, we had no idea he was the boy who lived next door,” her mother said, almost wearily.

Wanda frowned, and turned from the kitchen counter. “Why does it matter that he lives next door?” her parents exchanged looks, and then Wanda got it. “You guys are being weird because he’s a mutant?” 

“Wanda, darling, you must understand-” her mother started, “Mutants can be dangerous, even if they don’t _mean_ to be. And what happens when you break up? What if he wants to hurt you?” 

“Pietro’s not like that, Mama!” Wanda said, “He’s a really, really nice guy.” She knew her mother was scared, for her safety, and she was right- as bad breakups go, mutants can be dangerous, but… Wanda was _happy_. (And in love? she wonders.) For once, she’d realized how lonely it had been not really having anyone, and now that she had someone, a best friend, and _boyfriend_ , she didn’t feel quite so alone. 

Her mother shook her head, “Copilul meu, girls always think that.” _My child_. Her mother was slipping into Romanian. She really only did that when she was tired, or stressed, or… upset, and Wanda hated upsetting her mother, but she couldn’t let it go. 

“You wouldn’t mind it if he were a normal boy, Mama!” she said, and then turned to her father, “Dad!”

Her father sighed, “Your mother is right, draga.” _Darling_. 

Wanda sighed, “Pietro isn’t like all the ‘dangerous mutants’ you hear about on the news. He can run really fast, that’s all! He’s on the track team, but he’s not even allowed to compete because they don’t think it’s fair, and he’s really sweet, he got me this for Hanukkah,” she said, holding up her wrist, where she was still wearing the bracelet he’d given her. 

Django looked to his wife, “Wanda is nearly a grown woman, soția mea,” _my wife_. She said something back to him in Romanian, and he responded, the two of them conversing in faster-paced Romanian than she could understand. She understood the more common phrases, and when they talked slowly, but she’d lost most of her younger understanding of the language. 

“Wanda, we just _worry_ ,” her mother said, finally, in English. 

“I know, but you don’t need to! I’m fine,” she said, “I’m going to go do homework,” she said, leaving them in the kitchen with the grocery bags.

* * *

Wanda tried her best to put what her mother said out of her mind, but it was hard every time she saw the worried look in her mother’s eye every time she said she was going to Pietro’s, or said she was leaving without specifying where. It didn’t make much sense, really, because both Luke and Jess had powers, but the only difference was how they’d gotten them, and Wanda’s parents were fine with them. Well, it did make sense. Pietro and his kind were all born into privilege, the kind that Wanda and her family could never have. Luke and Jess were humans, but they had power, which made them ‘better’ than someone like Wanda, in the eyes of mutants, she supposed, which didn’t make any sense, in it’s actuality, because they were all _people_. 

And the worst part was that Wanda knew her mother was right, mostly. She knew the way that the bullies at school treated her, and how she couldn’t get a job at the diner because they only wanted to hire mutants, but… they were wrong about _Pietro_. He would never treat her that way, or any human. They just didn’t know him. 

So she had an idea.

“I want you to come over for dinner tonight, and meet my parents. Officially,” Wanda said, by his locker, just before homeroom.

Pietro almost tripped up, “Really?”

Wanda nodded, “I think it’s time they meet you,” she said, and smiled. “I’ll see you at seven?” she said, and he nodded. She kissed his cheek, and waved him off to class, off to call her mom and tell her dinner plans.

* * *

At seven, exactly, Pietro knocked on the Maximoff’s door. “I’ll get it!” Wanda said, jumping up. Her parents were still setting up in the dining room, so she pulled the front door open, and greeted him. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Pietro said, “Do I look okay?” he asked. He’d changed from what he was wearing at school to something a little nicer- not formal, per se, but he’d pulled on a polo, and looked like he’d attempted to comb his hair- before he dashed across the yard in the snow. 

“You look fine,” she said, and pulled him in the house. She took his hand, and led him into the dining room. “Mama, Dad, meet Pietro Lehnsherr.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Maximoff,” Pietro said, offering his hand. 

They both shook it, and then Django, after a moment of silence, said, “We should start dinner, yes?”

Marya had made a salad and cooked lamb, which she hurried to get out of the oven, placing it on the table with the salad bowl. So far, it had been nothing but awkward silences and stilted conversation, no one quite sure what to say, especially as Wanda’s mother asked, as she passed Pietro the salad bowl, “Do your people, um, eat this kind of thing?”

Pietro frowned, and taking the bowl, said, “Salad? I don’t think there’s anything against salad in the torah,” he says, but shrugs, “not that I really practice Judaism, not like my dad.” 

Wanda elbowed him and whispered, “She meant mutants.” 

“OH,” Pietro said, “Yeah mutants eat whatever. Thanks for this, Mrs. Maximoff. You’re awesome. My dad rarely cooks, he’s too busy working,” with another shrug. “I usually microwave a pizza or something.” 

“So you’re Jewish, then?” Django said, “This is good!” Wanda smiled behind her glass. After that, the air was a bit more relaxed, especially when her father knocked a glass off the table and Pietro caught it with his lightning-fast reflexes. Her parents were impressed, and she was proud, especially when, at the end of dinner, her parents admitted that Pietro didn’t seem too bad, and that he was welcome any time. Wanda was pretty sure it was just because they didn’t like the idea of him eating alone with microwave pizza, but she didn’t say a thing as she took his hand and walked him home in the snow. 

As they walked, Pietro asked, “I did okay, right? Your parents were looking at me kinda funny there for awhile, like they were scared of me or something.”

“Well... they kinda were,” Wanda said with a sigh, “You know how mutants can be with the terrorist groups, and the stuff at school… some humans are scared, Pietro, they’re not all like you.”

“But not you, you’re not scared,” he said, and she shook her head.

“And certainly not of you,” she said, and kissed him. She waved goodbye, and started walking back home in the streetlight. As Pietro stared off after her, he realized that he was in love with her. An entire world of mutants, and he fell in love with his beautiful, human neighbor. 

* * *

After that, her parents were a little more open to her spending time with Pietro, and had stopped with the worried looks they’d been sporting the past couple of days every time she left the house. Less than two weeks later, Wanda found another reason to love Pietro: coincidentally enough, they shared a birthday. Wanda had no idea until lunch the Wednesday before. 

Pausing with his sandwich, Pietro remembered what he’d been meaning to ask Wanda all day, “What are you doing the 19th?” he asked her.

“Probably having dinner with my parents,” she replied. “Although you can come if you want- no, I want you to come.”

“Oh, I was hoping we could do something, maybe with my dad?” Pietro said, and Wanda knew he didn’t know when her birthday was- she’d never told him, as far as she knew. Was she forgetting something? Their actual anniversary, of the first time they’d kissed, a month ago, was a few days back, and their first date wasn’t until the end of December, so she didn’t know what it could be. Was his dad doing something?

Wanda paused, “Why?” 

“Because it’s my birthday, on the 19th.”

“No way!” Wanda said, “That’s _my_ birthday.” 

* * *

That night, at dinner with his father, Pietro was animatedly talking, his father only half paying attention to the almost-gibberish coming out of his son’s mouth, almost too fast until he started talking about the girl he was seeing. He had no idea how long his son had been seeing the girl, but she was clearly enough to keep his son’s attention, which was a feat in itself, really. He had… tried, to raise Pietro well, but it was hard running campaigns and raising a teenager, so he knew that he was absent nights more often than not, but he did at least cook when he was home, but Pietro had been talking so much- filling Erik in on everything he’d missed lately- that Pietro had hardly touched his chicken.

“Pietro, eat your dinner,” his father said, before taking the last bite of his own. Pietro looked down, looking like he hadn’t realized he hadn’t touched anything, and then quickly consumed it, fast enough to make even his father queasy. “For god’s sake, boy, slow down.”

“Sorry!” he said with his mouth full, and then, “Okay, really though, what are the odds of sharing a birthday with my girlfriend?"

Mr. Lehnsherr sighed, “That is something of a coincidence, Pietro,” and then, with a pause, “Why don’t you invite her over, on your birthday. We’ll have dinner, the three of us, and I can finally meet her while you two celebrate turning eighteen.”

Pietro stilled, fork halfway to his mouth, “Really?”

His father nodded, “I’ll get a cake. Invite her over, Pietro. You only turn eighteen once, and I still haven’t met her.”

“Awesome, thanks Dad,” Pietro said, scarfing down the rest of the food in a rush to text her. 

“Slow down!”

* * *

“My dad texted me,” Pietro said, over the phone, an hour before Wanda was supposed to come over. She didn’t know why he didn’t just come over, or text, but he sounded… tired. Almost weary, like he expected it, but had gotten his hopes up, “and he said he has to stay late, and can’t make it to dinner.” He sighed, and then, “I’m sorry, you don’t have to come over. It isn’t too late, you can probably make it to dinner with your parents, if you want.” 

“What? No, I’m not going to dinner with my parents, Pietro!” Wanda said, “I already went to lunch with them, I saved the evening for you. I don’t care if your dad isn’t coming, I don’t wanna spend the evening with him.”

“Wanda…”

“No, I’m coming over now. No- I am, I’ll be there in five minutes.” 

Five minutes later- less, actually, it was more like two- Wanda was knocking on Pietro’s door with his present in hand. When he opened the door, he sighed and stepped aside. She kissed his cheek as she passed him, and set the present down on the dining room table. “I’m here to cheer you up,” she said.

“I don’t _need_ cheering up.” Wanda looked at him, and he sighed, sitting down at the table. Unlike Wanda’s family, who mostly ate in the kitchen, except for special occasions, Pietro’s family almost exclusively ate in the dining room- except in the mornings, then, Pietro always ate on the couch, watching cartoons. “It’s just, why should I ever expect anything different? It’s _always_ like this, with him.”

“Don’t say that, Pietro,” Wanda said gently, “You _should_ expect more. I’m sorry.” 

Pietro sighed again, and then said, “Want pizza?” a little more brightly, “I haven’t ordered it, yet, I was gonna order it before my dad left work, but-” 

Wanda nodded, “Want me to call?” 

He shrugged, “Sure, the number’s in the kitchen.” 

She followed Pietro to the kitchen, and when she was on the phone, Pietro rummaged through the kitchen drawers. When she was finished, she asked, “What are you looking for?”

“Candles,” he said, “for the cake,” he explained. “I have found zero candles. But I have found two packs of cards,” he held them up, “neither of which I knew we owned. Wanna play?”

“Absolutely,” she said, following Pietro into the dining room. He shuffled the cards quickly, his hands and the cards blurring before her eyes. “What are we playing?”

“Um. We can play Go Fish, War, Poker, Egyptian Ratscrew, Gin Rummy, Spoons, Golf-” Pietro listed, so fast Wanda could hardly hear. 

“Wait!” Wanda laughed, “just pick one!”

“Egyptian Ratscrew?” he suggested, with a hint of mischief in his smile. 

“Whatever you want,” she said, “But you’ll have to explain the rules. I haven’t played anything but Go Fish since I was a kid. How do you know so many card games? Or are you just bluffing and naming anything you’ve ever heard of?”

He shrugged, “My dad really likes chess, but I don’t have the patience for that. So we played a lot of two-people card games,” he said between explaining the rules. The game involved a lot of slapping, but Wanda thought she could handle it. 

As they played, speed clearly came in handy, the two of them racing to slap their hand down on the card pile so they could collect the pile. Wanda was realizing why Pietro had looked so confident earlier. But even with his advanced speed, Wanda managed to win both of the first two games- the two of them getting competitive, and laughing as they hit each other and the table- and the game of poker after. Pietro threw his arms up, groaning, “I don’t know how you’re so good at this! Are you sure this is your first time playing?”

Wanda nodded, grinning, “I don’t know, I’ve alway been good at probability things,” she said, math especially, but apparently also card games. The doorbell rang, and Wanda jumped up, shrieking, “Pizza’s here!” She dashed to the door, pulling it open. “Pietro! Where’s the money?” she called. He appeared behind her, reaching over her to give the pizza guy the cash, while Wanda took the pizza from his hands. 

The two of them devoured the whole pizza in the dining room while half-playing go fish. When it was finished and Wanda had won yet another game, Pietro said, “Want cake? My dad picked that up last night- the only thing he managed to get right tonight.”

Wanda shook her head as she followed him into the kitchen, where he pulled the cake from the fridge, “I personally think this is the best birthday I’ve had. Oh look, there’s the candles!” she said, reaching into the fridge. “Strange place to store them.”

Back in the dining room, Pietro pulled the cake out of the box, throwing the box away with the pizza box as Wanda lit the candles. The chocolate cake was decorated with sprinkles, and neon green icing that spelled out _‘Happy 18th Birthday, Pietro_ ’, and no matter what Pietro said about his father, he knew one thing about his son. Wanda dimmed the lights, and whispered, for the first time that evening, “Happy Birthday, Pietro.” Whispering seemed appropriate, in the glowing light of the candles. 

He rejoined her at the cake, and she took his hand. “Happy Birthday, Wanda. Let’s blow out the candles together.” She tried to protest, but he shook his head. “It’s our birthday. One, two-” and they blew them out together, shutting their eyes to make a wish. Wanda didn’t have to wish, she had everything she wanted- no, everything she needed. 

“You’re right, Wanda, this is the best birthday I’ve ever had, too. Do you wanna know what I wished for?” he said softly.

“Aren’t you not supposed to tell anyone that?” she asked, almost a whisper. Since the lights had dimmed, and the only light in the room was from the candles, till they blew them out, it’s like a spell had come over the room. 

“You don’t count.” And then, “I want it to just be us, the two of us, forever.”

Wanda sucked in a breath, and said, the words flowing from her mouth without her even thinking about them, “I love you- I do, I’m in love with you Pietro Lehnsherr. All we ever need is each other.” Pietro wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head. 

“I love you too, Wanda.”

* * *

She’d have thought that afterwards, saying ‘everything changed’ with them would have been the right description, but honestly, it didn’t. She was in love and he was her best friend, and they kept doing everything like they had been, mostly. And she loved it, and him. There was more awkward making out that ended in giggles and Jess saying, “Ew,” at her, for once, and giggling as they passed notes in homeroom. 

“Public displays of-” the principal squawked, as he passed, “affection!” he said, ruffled, causing Pietro to pull away and make faces, while Wanda giggled, leaning back against the locker. 

“ _Public displays of affection_ , Maximoff,” Angelo, one of Domino’s friends, mocked as he passed, following the principal down to his office. Pietro flipped him off, stepping forward, causing Angelo to project a forcefield around himself in defence, knocking a girl over. She shot him a dirty look, and he shrugged, uncaring. 

Pietro kissed her again, and then said, with a roll of his eyes, “C’mon, _Maximoff_ , we’ve got a class to get to.”

* * *

Senior pictures were that week, and Wanda and Pietro’s appointments were back to back on Tuesday. Wanda waited in one of the auditorium seats, swinging her legs as she read her novel. She heard Pietro say something like, “None that _you_ can see,” and then appeared around the side of the little photography station set up on the stage. “You’re up.” 

She handed over her book, and straightened her skirt. Her bangles jingled on her wrists as she reached for her hair, and Pietro rolled his eyes, “Wanda, you look lovely.”

“You said that when you came over at six this morning when I still had makeup on from yesterday, and my hair looked like I’d just crawled through the bushes. And then again this afternoon!”

He shrugged, “It was true both times.”

“Um, Wanda Maximoff?” the photographer called. 

“That’s me!” she said, giving Pietro a smile before climbing onto the stage to take her picture. The first was formal, meant for the yearbook, but then there were more silly ones. On the last take, the photographer- who was also the one for the school newspaper, _budget cuts_ \- Peter Parker, said, “Have any powers you’d like to show off?” It was kind of a growing fad, to have senior pictures show off powers- Wanda had seen Alison Blaire’s senior picture online probably half a dozen times, her eyes were closed and her mouth was open in song and the lights around her illuminated the room. Luke was breaking a cinder block in his, and Jess had been floating in hers. 

“Peter we’ve been in the same grade since we were in middle school. _You_ know I don’t have powers, and we all thought _you_ didn’t have powers until we were fifteen!” Wanda said with a huff. 

“Um, right,” Peter said awkwardly. 

“What’s up?” Pietro asked, appearing behind Peter.

“It’s nothing!” Peter was quick to say. 

Wanda sighed, “I’m finished, let’s go home.” 

When they started driving home, Wanda noticed they were very much _not_ headed in the direction of home. “Where are we going?” 

“The Zoo.”

“Pietro!” Wanda said.

“Or the aquarium,” he said with a shrug, “which might be better for this weather.”

“ _Pietro_.”

“I know, I’m amazing,” he said, and when she lightly swatted his arm, he said a little more seriously, “You just kinda seemed unhappy, at the senior picture thing, and, you know,” he shrugged, “you cheered me up, so I thought I’d return the favor.”

“Oh alright,” Wanda said, settling down in her seat with a smile she was barely trying to conceal. 

They decided to go to the zoo, anyway, even though it was thirty-seven degrees outside. Pietro grabbed her hand, and Wanda insisted on paying- even though, yes, it was Pietro’s idea- and they toured the zoo. According to one of the guides, many of the animals were actually very active in the winter, now that the weather was getting cooler. Besides the two of them, they only saw a few other patrons at the zoo, mostly a lot of bored tour guides. 

When they walked by the bird enclosure, they heard a “Pietro?” from the foliage. The leaves rustled, and a girl with black hair stuck her head out. A pair of white birds were perched on her shoulder.

She was a girl from their school, though a junior, if Wanda remembered correctly. “Oh, hi, I had no idea you worked here.”

She nodded, “I got an internship volunteering here when they found out I could talk to animals,” one of the birds chirped, and she said, “Oh hush.” Then to Pietro- “Not you! She gets antsy when I don’t pay attention to her. Who’s your friend?”

“Wanda, this is Sophia- um, sorry, Chat-” Pietro said, “Chat, this is my girlfriend, Wanda.” 

Chat’s eyes lit up with recognition, “Wait, I know you! You had English with Peter!” she turned to Pietro, as Wanda suddenly remembered the girl who always used to lurk outside their class for Peter, “She’d not a mutant, Pietro! Does your dad know?”

Pietro straightened up, and mumbled, almost surly, “He knows enough.” 

She pursed her lips, and Wanda looked between them, “What’s with your dad?”

Mumbling again, he said, almost too fast to hear, “He’samutantrightsactivist.”

“He’s a what?” 

“Mutant rights activist…” he said with a sigh.

“I’m just going to-” Chat waved, and disappeared back into the foliage.

“He’s a MRA?” Wanda said, almost in disbelief. She wasn’t mad, not at all, it was actually kind of funny how- ridiculous it was. 

“Pleasedon’tbemad-” Pietro said, “I meant to tell you, but it kind of just- never came up?”

“I’m not mad, Pietro!” Wanda said, “It’s just, ridiculous? In this world, to have Mutants Rights Activists? Who’s taking your rights away? You guys already run the world!”

“I know!” Pietro said, shaking his head, “I always kinda thought his job was dumb, but especially now, you know?” he said, raising their joined hands.

“Does your dad know you’re dating a _human_?” He shook his head, and Wanda raised her free hand to cover her mouth, hiding a smile. “This is like, serious teenage rebellion.”

* * *

Pietro still hadn’t quite forgiven his father for the birthday thing. It had been a little over three weeks, and he was warming up to him, especially since after, he promised he’d be home more- and so far, he’d been keeping that promise. It was Valentine’s Day, and Pietro had plans to sneak out and see Wanda later- he’d already given her flowers that morning, and she’d given him a large box of chocolates; he’d been through half the box already- but for now, he was eating dinner with his father. He wasn't a _terrible_ father, he was just kind of bad at it, and was gone a lot, which resulted in Pietro mostly raising himself.

“Pietro-” his father said, awkwardly, “As you know, it’s Valentines day, and since you have a girlfriend-”

“Hm?” Pietro said, only half paying attention. He was pushing the collard greens around his plate.

His father paused, and tried again, “I know we had this talk when you were twelve, but you’ve never really had a girlfriend before- not that I really heard about Crystal until after the fact,” he made a sour face, “but Charles had assured me he had everything under control-”

Pietro’s eyes widened as he realized what his father was trying to do. He was trying to give him the _sex talk_. At dinner. He choked on his greens. “Please tell me you’re not doing this over dinner.”

“Well I never see you any other time,” he said with a sigh. “Are you going to let me finish or not?”

“Not! Definitely not! I promise Professor X and everyone covered _all_ the basics in gym, like, every year. I really do not need to hear this again,” Pietro said, but his father still looked unsure, so he said, for good measure, “Definitely not.”

Later, he was alerted to Wanda’s presence by pebbles thrown at his window, similarly the way he’d first caught her attention. When he came down to greet her, she pulled him into the backseat of his car, and they made out for over an hour, which was Wanda’s way of saying thank you for the flowers. 

* * *

Most of the snow had melted from December. Mr. Lehnsherr had taken back his helmet after the first week it sat out there on the snowman, and after a few days, Pietro and Wanda collected their own clothing to be washed by their respective parents. Now that it was well into February, the last of the snowmen were melting away in the low-forties weather, and nearly everyone was finished getting their college acceptance letters. Wanda had gotten into most of the colleges she’d applied for, minus the one she’d really wanted to go to, and Pietro had gotten into all of the ones he’d applied to, though he said he didn’t know whether that was because they actually thought he was smart enough to go there, or because they liked how his last name was always all over the news. 

But with the rise in temperatures also came the start of Track season again for Pietro, Wanda taking advantage of the warmer weather to watch practices again. But Wanda wasn’t the only one taking advantage: the couple down the street, the Bartons, decided to take a post-Valentine’s date. Wanda was their usual babysitter, since she was a sapien and conveniently lived on the same street, so when they called for the next Saturday night, Wanda wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to earn a little cash. 

Unfortunately- or fortunately, depending on how she looked at it- Clint and Laura’s two oldest, with the baby sleeping in the other room, were curious children, and when they asked who Wanda was texting, she told them her boyfriend. And being the curious little children they were, they completely ignored the movie playing- The Frog Princess, about a hardworking mutant girl who accidentally stole the mutation of the prince she kissed, causing them to be stuck as frogs- and wanted to see _pictures_. 

“Are you in _love,_ Aunt Wanda?” Lila asked, ever the romantic, as Wanda showed them her background picture- one of him kissing the side of her head. Wanda nodded.

Cooper jumped up, “He has _white hair_ , Wanda, is he a mutant?” Again, Wanda nodded. Cooper’s eyes widened. At his age, most of his friends hadn’t developed their mutations yet, and if they had, they were all fairly obvious physical ones. Wanda didn’t know if the Bartons had their kids tested to see if they were mutants or not, so it would be a long time before Cooper would know any mutants up close. “What can he do? Can we meet him?”

“Oh yes!” Lila said, “Can we meet him, please? Please Auntie Wanda?”

Wanda smiled, and checked the clock. It was seven thirty, and even on a Saturday night they both had to be in bed by eight thirty, so half an hour of Pietro couldn’t hurt. “Alright, he can come over- but only if the two of you promise to be in bed when I tell you, alright?” The two of them nodded eagerly, and Wanda called Pietro. “Hey, I’m babysitting the Barton kids, and they really wanna meet you, wanna come over and hang out for a little bit?”

“Which house is it?” he asked, and that was answer enough. “I’ll bring my physics homework, too.”

“1309,” she said, and a second later the phone clicked off, and there was a knock at the door. 

Lila shot up, “Is that him?” The kids raced to the door, and pulled it open. Pietro was standing there with books under his arm, and looked like he wasn’t quite sure how to act around the kids. “Hi!” Lila said.

“How’d you get here so fast? Were you waiting for Wanda?” Cooper prodded suspiciously. 

Pietro looked to Wanda for support, and she mouthed, ‘ _Just treat them like little people._ ’

So Pietro sped around them, shutting the door and placing his books on the coffee table as he passed, skidding to a stop right in front of their wide eyes. “That’s my _mutation_. I’m _fast_.” 

Wanda smiled as the kids immediately warmed up to him. They begged for piggy-back rides, and he only sped around the house at a little faster than a normal human, the kids shrieking in delight as he demonstrated his mutation in even the littlest ways: assembling and disassembling lego towers before their eyes, and stealing Wanda’s book from her hands. By eight, they were completely pooped, but continued to ask Pietro a million questions like, “Can you brush your teeth like, a million times faster than this?” and proceeded to demonstrate _this_ for him, as Wanda started to corral them to bed. 

When the two of them collapsed on the couch, Pietro said, “Kids are _exhausting_.” 

Wanda snorted, “Those are just too regular kids too, imagine raising mutant kids.”

Pietro groaned, “I suddenly feel bad for my dad.”

Wanda patted his shoulder and handed him his homework. He finished it soon enough, and Wanda restarted The Frog Princess for the two of them. When it was nearly finished, Pietro dashed to the kitchen for a glass of water, but on his way back, Clint opened the door, startling him into running into a desk, knocking a lamp over. He caught it, and the water, just in time, but Clint still yelled, “Hey, punk, watch it! That lamp’s an antique!” 

Pietro, juggling the lamp and water in his arms, said, “Oops?”

Clint shook his head, “Kids.”

Laura followed her husband into the house, and turned to Wanda, who had an apologetic look on his face, "Wanda tell your boyfriend to be more careful with the house if he's going to come over here when we're gone."

And like on cue, the two of them chimed, “Sorry Mrs. Barton.”

She just smiled at them, going into the kitchen while her husband paid Wanda, and slipped Pietro a ten as he came back into the kitchen to put the glass in the sink. “Thanks for the help,” she said, “I know three kids is a bit much for Wanda to handle on her own.”

“She was handling it just fine before I got here,” Pietro protested, but kept the money anyway.

* * *

“Take me to get ice cream,” Wanda said, as she opened Pietro’s door. Pietro looked up from his book, where he was sitting cross-legged on his bed. He only looked a little surprised to see her- he’d shown her where the spare key was hidden, and told her she could come over _whenever_. 

“Alright,” he said without pause.

A smiled spread across her face, “Yay, thank you,” she said as she climbed onto the bed with him. “My parents took both cars.”

“You do realize it’s like forty outside, though, don’t you?” he said, as he put his book down. 

“Mhmm, so?”

“That’s _really cold_ for getting ice cream, Wanda.”

“Yes, but you agreed to take me. Because you love me,” she said, and it always gave her a giddy feeling to say it.

“Of course I do,” he said, “C’mon, let’s go.” 

The two of them piled into his car, hurrying to turn the heat up. They’d heard on the news all week that the temperatures would be dropping again, and snow would be on the ground before the end of the month, and Wanda wanted to get ice cream before then. She had a craving. 

When they pulled up at the little ice cream place, Wanda said, “I think we should sit outside, maybe,” she teased.

“Ha ha,” he said, and held the door to the relatively warm building open for her. “What do you want? I’m paying.”

“No, it was my idea!” Wanda protested. “I made you drive me here.”

“No, I drove myself here, and brought you with me.” 

“Oh all right,” she said, and looked down through the glass. She pointed to the green one, “Ooh, they have pistachio! I’ll take one of those, please, in a cone,” she said, to the attendant who was giving them sweet looks. 

“I’ll take another of whatever she’s getting,” Pietro said, “I trust your judgement.”

“You should,” she hummed, and handed him one of the two. 

They- wisely- decided to sit inside and keep the lone attendant company while they worked on their ice cream. Wanda got a few smidges of ice cream on her nose, and when Pietro tried to wipe them off with a napkin, he accidentally ended up knocking her ice cream from her hand. After the attendant cleaned it up- the two of them apologizing- they finished off Pietro’s together, and started back home. 

While Pietro focused on backing out of the parking space, Wanda leaned forward and turned on the radio. Pietro almost never had it on himself- he always said he forgot, but Wanda turned it on almost every time she got in the car with him. 

Halfway through the first song that came on, Wanda said, “We need a song.”

“Why?” Pietro asked, incredulously. 

“We just do. Don’t all couples? It’s a thing!” she insisted, and hummed. She reached forward again, and changed the station just in time to hear the end of _Losing my Religion_. Immediately following it was _Kiss Me_ , by Sixpence None the Richer. 

“What is this? The best of the 90’s?” Pietro said. 

Wanda giggled, “What about this one?” she asked, and she knew it was terrible, but she couldn’t help it.

Pietro screwed up his face, “ _Absolutely not_.” 

“Oh alright,” she said, still humming the song, _Kiss Me_ , and changed the station. The following two were on commercial, the next was playing one of Jazz E Jazz’s songs, and Wanda didn’t like him very much, so she changed it again.

“- _beneath the milky twilight, lead me out on the moonlit floor_ -” the radio blared.

“ _Wanda_ ,” Pietro groaned.

“It’s not me!” she said, “It’s just on this other channel too.”

“Weird,” Pietro said, as Wanda sat back. As it rang back to the chorus of _kiss me_ , Pietro grinned and leaned over to kiss her, causing them to swerve a little.

“Pietro, watch the road!” she laughed, pushing him over to his side.

“I’ve got it!”

But clearly he didn’t, because the siren on a cop car behind them started blaring, and the car flashed its lights. Pietro groaned, and pulled them over. A moment later, the cop stepped out of his vehicle, and knocked on Pietro’s window. He rolled it down, and asked, “What can I do for you, officer?” Wanda was gripping the armrest. 

The cop looked unimpressed, “Were you aware you swerved back there?”

“Sorry officer! I was totally paying attention to the road, I just- looked away,” he said, looking at Wanda. She was biting her lip.

“License and registration?” the officer asked. He was probably in his forties, and looked a little overweight, like someone’s dad almost. Except for the third eye. That was a little new. 

Pietro pulled his wallet from his pocket and pointed, “Wanda, can you get the-” towards the glove box. She reached in and handed it to him. 

He handed the two documents to the officer, and while he was looking over them, the officer asked, “Have you ever gotten a ticket before?”

“I _may have_ been pulled over for speeding, once or twice,” he said, quickly. The cop looked unimpressed. He handed back the documents. “But, I mean- I, uh, process stuff faster than normal mutants anyway, I’m a speedster-” and he vibrated his hand.

The officer shook his head, “You better be careful, son, not everyone’s got that ability. You might survive that crash, but I bet you girlfriend wouldn’t,” and nodded in her direction.

“Oh no, she’s n-”

Wanda interrupted him with an almost fake laugh, “Oh no, I, um,” she paused, racking her brain for _something_ , “get encased in gel when I sleep. It’s really actually kind of gross,” she said, mentally cringing. Of all the things in the world she could have said, she told the police officer she _slept in gel_. 

Pietro turned to her, frowning, but apparently she managed to convey ‘just go with it’ in her eyes because he turned to the cop, and nodded seriously, “I’ve seen it, it is.”

That startled a chuckle out of the officer, and he said, in a bit better mood than before, “One of the guys back at the precinct’s wife can do that. Complains about it all the time. Better not let your parents find out what you kids are doing.”

Wanda laughed again, still incredibly fake, but the officer didn’t seem to notice, “Of course not, officer!”

He chuckled again, “I’m just gonna let you two off with a warning, alright? Just steer clear of speeding and pay attention to the road.” The two of them nodded, and the officer went back to his car. 

After they watched the cop drive away, Pietro turned to her. “What was that?”

Wanda sighed, and said, “Cops are like… really racist. He probably would have given us a ticket if I hadn’t said what I did- did you see the way he lightened up when I told him I was a mutant- even a really weird one? He was comfortable,” she said. “C’mon, Pietro, lets go home. There’s more ice cream in the freezer with my name on it.”

“Where’d you get the idea for that weird mutation?” he asked, as he turned on the ignition. 

“Biology class.”

* * *

They were on Wanda’s bed, and he was _kissing_ her. Like, moved-beyond-awkward-and-onto- _amazing_ making out on her bed, and Wanda was pretty sure she _loved_ kissing. It was _fun_. School had been cancelled on account of snow, but her parents both made it into work, and so they were alone- Pietro had said he was coming over to hang out, but after she kissed him- well. Her head hit the back of the pillow, and she realized they’d moved from sitting to him laying on top of her, his body warm and heavy on hers, as he moaned into her mouth. It was really, well, hot. 

His right hand was on her hip, his thumb just brushing the sliver of skin between her shirt and the waist of her jeans, and she wished she didn’t find it so _distracting_. He shifted on top of her, and his hand rose higher, and settled on her waist under her shirt, and realizing what he’d done, he opened his eyes and lifted his lips off hers, and asked, breathlessly, “Is this okay?”

And Wanda had never done anything like this, but looking into his blue eyes, she nodded wordlessly. He searched her eyes, just to make sure she was sure, but she _was_ sure. She wanted this. She was nervous, but she wanted this- she wanted everything with Pietro, she was _in love_. So she nodded again, and kissed him, with intent, and so he pulled at the hem of her shirt, and she shifted, sitting up a little, to allow him better access. He lifted her shirt off with little difficulty, and she heard his breath hitch a little, and she couldn’t help but smile behind her light blush. _He was nervous too_ , she thought happily. 

She reached for his shirt too, and in a rush to help her, Pietro got tangled in lifting it over his own head. Wanda couldn’t help but giggle when he sighed dejectedly, and sat there letting her help him. After his shirt- along with his jacket he pulled off ages ago- was discarded to the floor, she kissed him again, intently and brief, almost teasing, and he reached for her again, pulling her closer to him. His hand was on her back, and he paused, but when she didn’t stop him, her eyes blown wide, he reached for the hook on her bra. The bra wasn’t fancy, it was something they’d picked up at Marshall’s ages ago, but it was probably her best fitting one, and she was very glad she’d decided to put that one on that morning.

She knew that this part was the one she should have been the most nervous about, rather than just the shirt- she’d been to the pool in a bikini before, which was practically the same thing as a bra- but, she _wasn’t_. Not really. His hand was shaking a little bit, and she couldn’t tell if that was nerves, or him getting excited. Sometimes when he got excited- about whatever- he vibrated where he stood. He unhooked her bra, and she pulled it off, their eyes locked the entire time, and he looked at her with _wonder_. “I love you,” he said, and she kissed him. 

They didn’t end up having sex- not, well, sex-sex, but for the first time in Wanda’s life, she saw a boy naked, and he saw- _her_ naked. It wasn’t quite as terrifying as she expected when he touched her, when they- messed around. It left them both happy and satied, and for awhile afterwards, they laid in bed together, holding hands, and he played with her hair. When it was finally time to head home, they two of them dressed, and Wanda sat back on her bed, cross-legged. She was watching Pietro speed around the room, stopping only long enough to pause and look under and around things. 

"Wanda... have you... seen my... jacket?" he said, spacing out the words every time he paused to peer under things. She shook her head, all while moving just enough to hide the jacket she was sitting on. 

Finally, he gave up, and said, “Can I borrow this?” holding up Wanda’s pink sweatshirt with a sigh. She nodded, keeping a smile on her face, and he zipped over, and kissed her on the cheek. “Byeseeyoulater,babe.”

An hour later, his father walked in on him, sitting at his computer, still wearing Wanda’s hot pink sweatshirt. He didn’t say a thing, only sighed, and told him dinner was ready.

The next afternoon, Wanda walked into lunch looking smug, wearing Pietro’s favorite jogging jacket over her dress. Pietro was already sitting at their table, with a raised eyebrow, “Clearly you had seen my jacket,” he said dryly. He was still wearing her sweatshirt, because if he couldn’t wear his favorite, then why not wear Wanda’s? It smelled like her, like the slightly flowery body spray she kept on her dresser. After lunch, Pietro kissed her, and asked, “Can I have my jacket back now?” as he pulled her into the empty janitor’s closet.

She was only a _little_ late to class. One of the girls in her class did a double take when she sat down in the back row, and asked, “Wasn’t Pietro wearing that earlier?” Wanda just shrugged. 

* * *

It was wet as Wanda dashed into the cafeteria from the outside. She’d been in the library checking out a book, and it had been raining off and on all day, but by the time the bell rang it had stopped. The snow had melted a few days back, and it was regularly staying in the fifties. Cold, wet fifties. Once in the cafeteria, Wanda spotted the table she was looking for. Or rather, tables. There were three lined up along the back wall, and they had signs saying ‘Cap and Gown Order Forms’. It was early enough into lunch that only a few people had gotten down to the cafeteria, so the lines weren’t very long. Wanda picked the shortest one, which had a few people in it, and waited, until she heard an, “Excuse me! Coming through! Wanda!” as Jessica shoved her way through the line, and ended at Wanda’s side. “Do you have the forms and money?”

Wanda nodded, “I kept forgetting to ask my mom for money,” she said, and Jessica nodded, “but I finally set an alarm last night and asked. I filled out the paperwork a week ago.” 

“I can’t believe they keep doing this,” Jess said, disgustedly, as she looked over Wanda’s shoulder to the table, where there were sample caps on the table. 

“Doing what?” Wanda asked, moving forward in the line. There were only three more people in their line. 

“Having different colors for girls and boys!” she said. “It’s always red for girls, and blue for boys, and it doesn’t look _good_.” Sky blue and dark red were their school colors, and the graduation gowns reflected that. 

“What? Why?” Wanda asked, stepping forward again.

Jess sighed, “I saw it last year when my step sister graduated- they have clumps of like, blue and red because it’s alphabetical. So it isn’t red-blue-red-blue, it’ll be like four reds in a row, then a blue, and stuff like that. Trust me, it doesn’t look good. They did all red a few years back, I heard, but they’ve done this every year we’ve been here.” 

“I hope it doesn’t look too bad, I don’t mind wearing red.”

“That’s because red is your favorite color,” Jess chimed. That was true.

“I can’t believe this is actually happening,” Wanda said, as she handed one of the moms manning the table her paperwork, the cash, and her ID. “We’re _graduating_. It’s finally over.” 

Jess nodded, “Oh I _know_! Isn’t it exciting?” handing over her own paperwork. “It doesn’t seem like it would be, you know? But it almost is. Only two more months- oh, hey, come sit with us,” she said, pulling Wanda’s arm towards the table by the window. 

* * *

Flipping through the history textbook, Wanda sighed, “Every time I read the Strategic Defense Initiative stuff in my book, I _always_ think its about Star Wars the movies.”

Pietro paused highlighting the notes from Chem. “I’ve never actually seen Star Wars.” He paused again, “The movies. Though I definitely have not actually seen the 1983 program, either.”

"I- you've never seen _Star Wars_?" Wanda did a double take. 

Pietro shook his head, "I didn't ever really feel the need?"

"We are watching Star Wars _right now_. All 6 films. Now."

"What about homework?" he said, watching her stand up, slamming the book shut. 

"This is Star Wars we're talking about!" Wanda said, "It's my dad's favorite series! Hold on, I’m going to grab his DVDs, and we can watch it on my laptop.” 

Star Wars was a film that came out around the time of the mutant cultural revolution, back in the 70’s, when mutants stopped being such a minority. No one knew what happened, exactly, but fewer and fewer humans were born, and more and more mutants started surfacing. It was one of the first movies that prominently featured a mutant family- though that wasn’t revealed until the third film- with Luke and Leia sharing touch-telepathy with their mother, which wasn’t revealed, again, until the prequel movies came out when Wanda was little. Her father still loved the movie- who didn’t? Han Solo was charming, and it was almost revolutionary for human-mutant relationships, since previously, they were all but ignored on television.

Now it was hard to find a single movie that starred a Sapien. But Wanda wasn’t going to think about that, not now. Now, she was going to enjoy Pietro watching Star Wars for the first time. Around the third movie, Wanda must have fallen asleep, and Pietro with her, because when she woke up, she was vaguely aware that the third movie’s selection scene was playing on repeat. 

When she opened her eyes, her dad was standing over her, and she heard a squawk from beside her. She sleepily said, "Morning Dadd-” and then realizing where the squawk came from, and the fact that morning light was streaming in through her window, yelled, “YOU'RE STILL HERE?" at Pietro in a panic. 

Her father simply laughed, while Pietro shoved the laptop of their laps, and was waving his arms, while saying, “We didn’t do anything, Mr. Maximoff! I promise, we were just-” he waved his arms in the direction of the laptop, “Star Wars!”

With a twinkle in his eye- Wanda hiding behind her pillow, mortified- her father simply said, “You better get home before Wanda's mother see you're here.” 

Pietro nodded quickly, and said, “ByeWandaseeyouatschool,” in a rush to get out. 

Django chuckled, “That sure is a boy you’ve got there.”

“I know,” Wanda said, muffled, from where her face was still planted in the pillow. 

* * *

The next week was Spring Break, and Pietro had firmly avoided going to Wanda’s house in fear of running into her father, despite the assurances that he was not going to either murder Pietro or ban him from the house. Instead, Wanda went to his house more often, since Mr. Lehnsherr was rarely there in the first place. 

But the start of spring break meant Wanda was going to be alone for awhile, because Pietro had planned a ski trip with some of his old friends from the Xavier Institute, and Wanda hadn’t seen him in three days, after she’d said goodbye before Pietro’s dad dropped him off at the airport. She was listening to Pandora radio, when the song Kiss Me came on, and Wanda found herself smiling to herself, and she immediately reached for her phone, before remembering that Pietro was not actually in New York right then. 

So she dialed his number, but before she had a chance to say anything, Pietro said, “Hey! I was just about to call you, you’ll never guess what I just heard on the radio.” 

And she said, with a grin on her face, “Our song?”

“Yes!” he said, “How’d you know?”

“I thought you didn’t want that to be our song?” she teased.

She could practically see him shrug as he said, “Well, after we were almost arrested for terrible driving, I figured we could give it a shot.”

“It’s funny, I was just listening to Pandora, and it came on. That’s actually why I called you,” she said, and then, a little softer, with more emotion than she meant to reveal, “And because I miss you? I shouldn’t, not this much- it’s only been three days, and you’re probably having a lot of fun with them but-” she had to pause, her voice was shaking. Her mother said she felt emotions more than normal people, and this was proof. 

The line was quiet, and then Pietro said, quietly, and seriously, “Wanda.” There was another pause, “I miss you too,” like he was letting out a breath. 

“I wish you were here,” she said, “Instead of there. Or I was there. I don’t know,” she sighed, “this is probably pathetic. I don’t know, I just, I love you? And I didn’t realize how much I hate not seeing you every day.” 

The line was quiet again, and then Pietro said, “Don’t hang up. I- I’m gonna try something, okay?” 

Wanda nodded, and immediately felt foolish. “Okay.” A moment passed, and she said, “Pietro?” but he didn’t respond. She wasn’t sure if the phone was working, it was like he’d gone through a tunnel, she thought, as she looked out at the afternoon sun for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably just a few minutes, 

“Wanda?” he said, from the phone, but it sounded like an echo. “Turn around,” he said, and she did- nearly dropping the phone in shock. _Pietro was in her room_. Five minutes ago he’d been hundreds of miles away, and now he was standing there, in her bedroom, breathing heavily.

“Pietro!” she yelled, and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him soundly on the mouth. “How did you get here?”

“I ran,” he breathed, but he was grinning.

“All the way from Canada? For me?” he nodded. She couldn’t help it, she was overcome with a burst of affection for him and kissed him again. His arms were wrapped around her, and she held him tight. 

“I can only stay a little bit, my friends don’t know I’m gone,” he admitted, “But I had to see you, you know?” 

“Okay,” she smiled. “I love you, you know?”

He nodded, “I love you, too.” He snorted, “We couldn’t last two days apart, what are we going to do when we’re in college? Running two hundred miles every day might be a bit much, but I’d do it, for you,” he said.

Wanda froze. She hadn’t even thought about that. “I- what if you don’t have to run across the state to see me?” she said suddenly, and maybe she was being stupid, but- “What if we went to the same college?”

Pietro didn’t even pause, “What acceptance letters have you gotten?” Wanda listed them off, and Pietro looked thoughtful, and said, “I was accepted to three of those. I’m gonna run and go grab the actual letters from my house. You grab yours and I’ll meet you downstairs in your kitchen, and we’ll discuss the pros and cons of each school over juice- running a couple hundred miles really takes a lot out of you- and we’ll make a decision today. The two of us, nobody else.” 

* * *

So they did. By the end of the afternoon, they’d decided on a university for the both of them. Neither of them really knew what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives, but they did know they’d figure it out, _together_. When Pietro finally said goodbye- kissing her with a sticky mouth, he’d eaten a whole box of rice crispies- they’d made their final decisions, and Pietro promised he’d call his dad, who was on a business trip out of the country, later to inform him. 

As soon as her parents got home, Wanda told them of her decision, and they nodded happily as she explained the reasons- it was very Sapien friendly, and affordable, and included a lot of majors that seemed interesting. The campus was large, and far enough away to where Wanda felt like she’d actually be leaving home, but close enough to where it would only be a few hours drive when she wanted to come home.

The three of them sat down at a computer, and filed for her decision on the school’s website, 

sitting at the dinner table with her parents standing behind her. Her mother nearly cried after she shut the laptop, “Copilul meu is all grown up, Django!” _My baby_. “She’s going to leave us, soon!” 

Wanda hugged her mom, “Don’t worry, Mama, I’ll come back and visit you. It isn’t for months.”

“Yes but then you will be gone!”

Django patted Marya’s shoulder, and said, “Darling, she’ll always be our little girl, but we must let her _go_.”

* * *

Dinner was awkward, as usual. Neither Pietro nor his father were talking, and Pietro was pushing a single tomato around his plate. It was one of the cherry tomatoes, sliced in half, and Mr. Lehnsherr was pretty sure the tomato was not as interesting as his son was making it appear. He was still mad because Erik hadn’t approved his choice of school, most likely. He’d eventually given in, after all it was a good school, with good academics and sports, but not the one that he had planned on Pietro attending. There had been a big argument over the phone, and Pietro hadn’t spoken to him the rest of the trip, and then for another two days after, until he’d reluctantly given Pietro permission to commit. It hadn’t much improved his mood, so Erik tried another tactic.

Erik sighed, and started, "I hear you have a girlfriend.”

Pietro sat up straighter, and mumbled, “She’s the same girlfriend I’ve had forever.”

Erik continued, "When am I going to meet this lucky girl?"

“You could have met her on my birthday,” he sighed, and then mumbled, “You wouldn’t like her, anyway.” 

His father frowned, "Why not?"

"Because _I_ like her," Pietro mumbled, but before he could be subjected to his father's wrath he bolted upstairs to call her, but not before he heard his dad sigh again, and yell "Condoms!" 

* * *

Wanda woke up to the sound of her phone buzzing next to her face. She must have fallen asleep texting Pietro last night. _Damn_ , her battery was at 17%. The message though- ‘ _come over. cartoons are on._ ’ was from Pietro, from just moments before. Another one came through as she was holding her phone, it buzzing in her hands. _‘i have cereal_ ’

Wanda couldn't help but smile, and type, ‘ _I have to charge my phone._ ’ 

A few seconds later, she got a reply, ‘ _I have a charger too.’_

‘ _I'll be there in ten_.’

‘ _Hurry!!! the next ep starts in six!!_ ’

Wanda smiled and shook her head, and pulled on a pair of sweatpants and flats before jogging downstairs and out of the house. She let herself into Pietro's, her boyfriend sitting on the couch with a bowl in his hand, eyes glued to the TV, making it with three minutes to spare. He looked over at her, and then he was gone. 

A second later, he was in front of her, shoving a different bowl into her hand- filled with milk and lucky charms- and then was back in front of the TV. "C'mon, Gravity Falls is on!" 

"Coming!" Wanda said, moving carefully as to not spill the cereal all over the carpet, "Move over!"

He scooted over just enough to give her room to be squished between him and the armrest of the love seat, pressed to his side. Between commercial breaks, he ran and grabbed her a charger, refilled their bowls, and sat back down. The episodes were older, but Wanda hadn’t seen most of them. She really only watched cartoons with Pietro, and almost only when he told her to come over. She wasn’t normally up that early in the morning. Halfway through the third episode, Pietro’s father came down the stairs, arguing with someone on the phone.

Wanda was startled to see him, she hadn’t realized he was still there, she hadn’t even met him yet! But it didn’t seem a good time to make introductions, because he didn’t even glance in their direction as he said, "Pietro I'll be back by dinner," and walked out the door. Pietro just waved while munching on his fourth bowl of cereal.

After Mr. Lehnsherr was gone, and Wanda was still staring out after him, Pietro shrugged, “Don’t take it personally, he probably didn’t even realize you were there,” he said, and leaned back against the couch. “Sometimes I think he doesn’t even realize I’m here.” 

* * *

Prom wasn’t for another month, but the fliers for prom court and “BUY TICKETS NOW!” were already going up all over school. Even after a week, Pietro hadn’t asked her. She was pretty sure he would, he knew she wanted to go, even if she didn’t _say_ it. She’d always kind of wanted to go to those things, like homecoming and middle school dances, and she had, to a few, but things just weren’t the same when you didn’t have a date, especially now that she _had_ someone. 

It wasn’t bothering her, really, except that it was the last week to buy tickets, and it was already Saturday- by next Saturday, they’d stop selling them, and for once, Wanda didn’t want to miss this. She almost brought it up a few times, but didn’t, until her inhibitions were low, and she was almost asleep. 

Pietro’s father was out of town again, and Wanda had told her mom she was at Jessica’s, and instead went to Pietro’s for the night. It wasn’t even like, a sex thing. She just wanted to sleep next to him, curled up against him, waking up to his face in the morning. They’d spent the afternoon playing more Captain Marvel, and just hanging out. Wanda finished the novel she’d gotten from the library, and Pietro spent over an hour on their future university’s website until Wanda pushed him over, and joined him, and he showed her all the things he’d found. 

But then it was nearly ten, and Wanda had gotten up rather early, so she pulled Pietro into bed with her, and finally, as he was curled around her, her head tucked under his chin, she asked between yawns, “Were you going to ask me to prom?”

He paused for a moment, and she could almost sense him thinking. “I was trying to think of a really cool way to ask you, you know?” he said, “Like spell out your name in flowers, or that one girl who asked her date by saying ‘Will you goat to prom with me?’ and giving him a fucking goat- but grand gestures aren’t our thing, really. And I kept hoping to find something cool to surprise you- I even asked my dad. He told me just to ask you,” he snorted. She felt him shrug, “I told him that was stupid, but,” he sighed, “I couldn’t find anything better. So,” he said, “will you go to prom with me, Wanda?”

“Of course,” Wanda said, sleepily. Her eyes were fluttering closed. She snuggled closer to him, “Go to sleep, Pietro.”

“Okay,” he said, and closed his eyes.

* * *

Something had been bothering Jess, Wanda knew, since sometime Monday night. She’d been fine all monday, but she showed up Tuesday looking troubled, while Luke was walking around the school with a spring in his step. 

Wanda almost asked about it, but Jess was stubborn, and probably wouldn’t have told her if she had, so she let it go on, and just smiled at her when she passed her in the hallway. Finally she broke down on Wednesday, just after sixth period. They had another class to get to, but Jessica pulled her aside in the hallway, and said, “Can we go somewhere and talk?” and then, with a pause, “Someone where no one will listen in?”

Wanda nodded, and followed Jess outside the school, and into the parking lot. “Where are we going?”

She shrugged, “You pick.” Wanda gave the directions, and Jess drove. As they pulled up to the rusty gate, she said, “I had no idea this was here. How did you even find it?” 

Wanda shrugged, and stepped out of the car and into the field with the abandoned factory. “Pietro found it, and we went looking though here one day back in December.” It looked very much the same as it had back in winter, but with more vibrant grass. “We’ll have to climb over-” Wanda said, but Jess was already halfway over the fence. Wanda climbed up after her, suddenly very glad she’d decided to wear jeans too. 

Jess looked around, intrigued, as Wanda led them into the building, and found an easy place to sit: the stairs. “What did you want to talk about?” Wanda asked. Jess was silent, gripping the railing next to her. 

“I’m sorry, I just-” she looked incredibly frustrated. Wanda could see the dent she was making in the metal with her bare hand, like molding clay. She didn’t even seem to notice until she saw Wanda staring, and pulled back her hand, wiping the rust on her jeans. Wanda heard the stories of when Jess was ten, right after the accident, when she’d break anything she could get her hands on. Her adoptive mother learned not to hand her any of the good china for a while. “I don’t really have all that many friends, and I feel like we’ve grown apart, but I really needed a girl to talk to who wouldn’t judge me like my family might.”

“Whatever it is, I’ll listen with an open mind,” she assured her. 

“Luke asked me-” Jess said, but paused again, picking holes in the fabric of her already ripped jeans. 

“To prom?” Wanda prompted. 

Jess shook her head, but said, “I mean yes, but- he asked me to marry him, Wanda.” She said it so easily, but like even saying the words caused her anguish. 

“Oh my god,” Wanda said. She was _not_ expecting that, not at all. Jess was nodding along. People their age didn’t get married, not unless they were leaving for the Military, or they were pregnant. And Jess couldn’t be pregnant- she would have lead with that.

“I know,” she said with a sigh. 

“What are you going to do?”

Jess made a bitter face, “I don’t know. What would you do? If your boyfriend proposed to you, right now?”

She paused, but honestly, Wanda didn’t have to think too hard. Maybe someone would have said it was silly, to think that she knew what she wanted as a senior in high school, but she did. She loved Pietro, and she did want to spend forever with him. But not _right now_. Going to the same college was enough of a commitment for them, at the moment. “It’s not the same, Jess, and you know it. Pietro and I have only been together a few months, and I love him, but-”

“But what if you’d been together for _five years_?” Jess said, closing her eyes.

Wanda paused again, “That _would_ be different. I might say yes. But Jessica, you and Luke aren’t me and Pietro! What do _you_ want?”

Her eyes were still closed, “I got the job at The Bugle. Just for the summer, and then if I come back,” she said, and Wanda was about to tell her congratulations, when she said, her eyes opening, “from California. I got a scholarship to Berkeley. Luke got into Albany.” 

“Oh Jess, that’s wonderful! That’s where you wanted to go!”

“But not if I marry him, Wanda,” she said, with a sigh. “I got into Briar Rose, and if we did get married, he’d want to be in the same place.”

“You already know what you want, don’t you?” Wanda sighed, leaning back, hitting the wall softly. “I’m just your soundboard.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, with another sigh, “I just needed to talk this through.”

Wanda shook her head, “Don’t be sorry, that’s what girl friends are for.”

Jess smiled, briefly. “I want to marry him, I think, eventually. After I have my career, and everything. I just hope he doesn’t hate me, for this,” she said with a sigh. Wanda smiled reassuringly at her, and placed her hand on top of hers. 

“Jessica, he just asked you to marry him, what he feels for you is the _opposite_ of hate.” 

* * *

Wanda had been laying around in bed all morning- it was a Saturday, and finals were in a week- followed by prom and then graduation, and then- then they were _free_. But in the meanwhile, it’d been busy. She hadn’t seen much of Pietro in the last few weeks, save for stolen kisses at school, and texts exchanged over dinner. She’d been wondering about going over to Pietro’s, but when she got out of bed to grab her phone an hour before, his dad’s car was still there- and as often as they were at each other’s houses, she’d much rather not be caught in bed with her boyfriend by a parent, again.

But he texted her, ‘ _Come over I’m in bedddd_ ’ and she got up to check the window, seeing his dad’s car was finally gone. She didn’t bother to change out of her pajamas, slipping out of the house since her parents were still home, and across the yard to Pietro’s. She let herself in, locking the door behind herself, and then running up the stairs to throw herself in bed with Pietro. 

“Oof!” Pietro said, rolling over, and wrapping her in the comforter. “Morning.”

“Morning,” she said, from where her head was sticking out of the covers. “Have you had breakfast?” He shook his head, and she sprung up- still wrapped in the comforter. She pecked him on the lips, and unwrapped herself, “Come on, I’m sure there’s leftover pizza,” she grabbed his hand, and pulled him out of bed with her. 

The two of them raced down the stairs, sliding into the kitchen in socks, and Wanda pulled open the fridge, handing Pietro the whole box of pizza, and then reaching for two glasses of water. She filled them, and then pointed towards the stairs, “Go!” and the two of them climbed back up the stairs- a little more careful this time- to eat in bed. They finished off the last of the box, Wanda munching on her last slice when a bit of sauce dripped onto her shirt.

“Oh no-” Wanda said, putting the crust on top of the empty box, reaching for a napkin to try and wipe her shirt off. Pietro, who’d been lounging back on his pillows, sat up with a mischievous glint in his eye. 

“ _Oh no_ ,” he said, with a growing grin, “I guess you’ll just have to _take it off_.” He said, reaching for the hem of her shirt.

Wanda tried to hide her grin, “Pietro!” but couldn’t help it, and laughed, helping him take the tee shirt off her. She leaned forward and kissed him, giggling all the while. He deepened the kiss, moaning lightly as he pulled her closer. 

Then, three things happened all at once. The door to Pietro’s room was pulled open, his father stepped in, and said, “Pietro, have you seen my breifc-” The words died on his lips, registering what he was seeing, as Wanda and Pietro gasped, pulling away from each other, startled at the intrusion. 

Wanda scrambled to pull the sheets up to cover her bra, Pietro not bothering to cover his own boxer-clad self as he stood up. “Dad! You went to work- you weren’t supposed to be home for hours-”

But Erik Lehnsherr wasn’t paying his son any mind, he was staring at Wanda, who was blushing furiously, and trying to cover her face. His gaping expression was steadily growing furious, as he strode forward and grabbed Wanda’s arm, pulling her from the bed, causing her to cry out- more startled than in pain. But Pietro tried to reach for her, and Erik, finally turning his furious expression towards his son, growled, almost cooly, “Get dressed. Both of you.”

He released Wanda’s arm, and she dropped to the floor, grabbing her shirt, quickly, pulling it over her head, not looking at either man. Pietro stepped towards her instinctively, as if to shield her from his father. Pietro had a matching expression on his face: pure fury. Unlike his father, though, who had an air of control to him, Pietro was very much _not_ in control: he had the fury of a teenager, one that couldn’t be calmed easily, but would pass on it’s own. Eventually. He was- so angry. How could his father be so- racist? To hate his girlfriend upon immediately seeing her? He would certainly have known she wasn’t a mutant, he was almost freaky about how he could look at someone and know, almost immediately.

Pietro knew his father was a Mutant Rights Activist, but he’d always preached getting along with humans, since they were the lesser species. But seeing his son kissing one? That was too much for him? The _hypocrisy_ \- Pietro crossed his arms and glared at his father, but his father was again paying him no mind. 

Erik’s watchful eye was on both of them, as Pietro pulled her up, still half shielding her from his father. She was a little less frightened, then. She was more-- ashamed, that she’d gotten Pietro in trouble. She thought his father wouldn’t have minded, or cared, since he was gone all the time, but clearly he didn’t like her- or like her being in his house. Erik gritted his teeth, and pointed, “The two of you, in my office, now. And Pietro, stop touching her.”

Purposely, Pietro leaned closer to Wanda, as he led them down the stairs to his father’s office. Wanda was still clutching the hem of her shirt, as she sat down at the large, imposing antique desk in the office. It had a few papers stacked neatly, she noticed, and some high-end trinkets, as well as the ridiculous helmet she and Pietro had used to build a snowman a few months back. Pietro sat next to her, in the other chair facing the desk, and leaned back, eyes still hard on his father. 

Sometime between Wanda putting on her shirt, and sitting down across from them, Mr. Lehnsherr had lost most of his anger, and now looked… almost awkward, in a stiff kind of way. His eyes were stern and disapproving, and he looked like he didn’t know how to start the conversation. _Where he was probably going to ask her to leave and never come back_ , she thought. 

Instead, surprising her, he said, “Wanda.” 

“I didn’t think you ever listened when I talked about her,” Pietro shot out, and his father sighed. 

“I didn’t, not really. I know her name for another reason entirely.” He pulled open a desk drawer, one of the always locked ones, and pulled out a small envelope of pictures. “I know her name because I named her myself, after your mother’s great aunt Wanda. Wanda is my daughter.” He paused, watching their reactions. Wanda’s blood ran cold, and she saw Pietro visibly start. 

“What? That’s not possible-” Pietro said, but his father cut him off. His anger was deflated, immediately. He looked more puzzled, than anything, because his father wasn’t mad because he was dating a sapien, but because- he thought Wanda was his _sister_? 

“Wanda is your twin sister. I did not piece it together at the time, after all, there are many girls named Wanda that the mention wouldn’t have stirred a recollection, and there must be enough students in your school that some of them must have shared your birthday. I did not realize until I saw her face. She is the spitting image of your mother." He was still addressing Pietro, and Wanda was miraculously silent. She felt numb, as though what was being said was about someone else, and not- her.

“Pietro, these are the last photographs I have of your mother,” Mr. Lehnsherr said, wearily, and Pietro’s eyes flashed hurt. Wanda nearly reached for him, instinctively, but Erik’s cold eyes were still watching them all. They only softened, she noticed, when he looked down at the envelope.

“Your mother left shortly after you two were born,” he said, finally addressing Wanda, too, “She hadn’t known that I was a mutant before we married, it was still a growing issue then, but the shock of it forced her into labor when she found out, and finally giving birth to you two. She slipped from the hospital, and I never saw her again,” he said, softly. He pulled out a single picture from the envelope, and stared down at it.

“This has got to be some sort of- mistake,” Pietro said, frowning, “Wanda’s not my- you’ve never mentioned a sister- my mother _died_ ,” he said firmly. 

“Oh yes, she did,” he sighed, “by the time I tracked her down, Magda had died, and Wanda was already- given away.”

“It’s not-” he tried again, but Erik passed over the photograph, of a woman in her twenties, with dark brown hair and- Wanda’s face. But unlike Wanda, she had brown eyes. Wanda had- looking at her in horror, Pietro realized- their father’s eyes. “You said there were no pictures of her,” he said, almost a whisper, as he touched the technicolor face of his mother. His father did not respond. 

Wanda touched the photograph gingerly, as though it might burn her. “Pietro,” she whispered, “That’s your mother? She looks just like _me_.” Erik sighed again, but Pietro spoke, swallowing.

“That’s because I think he’s telling the truth,” he said, sitting back in his chair. 

“I am,” Mr. Lehnsherr said, and pulled out another photograph, handing it to them. It was a polaroid, of two babies, both swaddled in blankets with the caption ‘Wanda + Pietro Lehnsherr’ and the date. Wanda felt dizzy. Pietro was, in fact, her brother. 

Pietro seemed to be coming to the realization too, because he looked defeated, and more than a little horrified. He probably looked how Wanda felt, but she couldn’t make a move, do anything more than stare down at the picture of her and her boyfriend- her _brother_ \- as babies, oh god. 

“It wasn’t about her being human, after all?” he said dumbly, “You weren’t mad because you were being racist?” but immediately realized it was, still, in fact, about her being human. His own father, who preached tolerance towards human-born children, had given Wanda up, immediately after they were born- _without even knowing her-_ because she was _human_. 

But then the rest of it sank in. “Wanda- _my girlfriend_ \- is my sister?” 

Erik sighed again- he seemed to be doing that a lot lately- “That’s what I must talk to you about, both of you,” he said, and was back to addressing both of them. “We cannot undo what is already done, but you must stop seeing each other _immediately_. Wanda is your sister, and you cannot be in a relationship of any kind with her.” He paused, watching the two of them process what he was saying, and then said, awkwardly, “I realize this is my fault, Pietro, for not being more involved in your life- if only I had met her earlier, I could have stopped this earlier, when you were less… invested in her.”

It was at that moment that Wanda realized that Mr. Lehnsher- Erik- _her biological father_ \- wasn’t even considering her. He was thinking about Pietro, his _son_. Because while she and Pietro were biologically relared, and therefore it was wrong for them to love each other and be together, she was not Mr. Lehnsherr’s daughter, even now that it was out in the open. He hadn’t even explained his reasoning in giving her away, but she already knew them. She’d known them for years, before she met either of them. She was a Sapien, and thus would always be a lesser species than her own father, her own brother- her own _lover_ , in the eyes of the man who sired both of them. Her head was spinning, she couldn’t think straight. 

Their father’s words apparently stirred something in Pietro, because unlike Wanda, who was still sitting there in shock, he bolted up and yelled, “Invested? Dad, I’m in love with her! We’ve been dating for _months_!” and then, disgustedly, “She was right about you, you know. She always talked about how- how her family who gave her up didn’t care enough for her to keep her, and she was right. You gave up my sister. I never even had a chance to know my mother. This is all _your fault_.” 

“Pietro, that is _enough_ ,” Mr. Lehnsherr said, firmly, the two of them still looking at each other, hard, identical eyes. They weren’t even looking at her. Oh god, this was so- 

A loud scraping noise caught their attention, drawing their eyes to Wanda, who couldn’t _breath_. “I can’t- I can’t _do this_ ,” she said, and turned and fled. She didn’t see Mr. Lehnsherr grabbing his son’s arm, harsh words exchanged, or the way Pietro shook off his father’s arm, telling him that whatever Wanda was to him, she was his, and Erik had no right to stop him.

In her own room, Wanda was sitting on her bed. Her head was still spinning, and she saw red as she tried to process all of these things in her head. Things just, didn’t make sense anymore. Her boyfriend is her brother and her next door neighbor is her father, and- she was so close to them, this entire time! She’d- oh god, she’d had sex with her brother, she’d told him she _loved_ him, and meant it, and still meant it- she felt guilty, horribly guilty, for no reason, since she didn’t know, but- 

It wasn’t _her_ fault, she sat, still silently freaking out, but- she was _angry_ , and she saw _red_. What gave that man the right to take this kind of choice away from her, _abandoning_ her, what world did they live in that mutants were _better_ than humans, not _sapiens_ , she stood up, not thinking. Her fists clenched, she was so angry, and-

“Wanda,” she heard a gasp from the doorway. Pietro was standing there, in the doorway, with a shocked expression on his face. 

And then she realized she was _actually_ seeing red.

“Wanda, you’re _glowing_ ,” he said, still frozen in the doorway. All around her, her things were floating in a red haze, held up by- _her_. “Wanda,” he said, a look of growing delight on his face, as he regained function and stepped towards her, “You’re a _mutant_.” 

That seemed to break the spell, because suddenly, all the objects- and Wanda- fell, collapsing to the ground. But like always, Pietro was there to catch her. 

“I didn’t know I could do that,” she said, weakly, almost in shock. Pietro let her down on the bed, and crawled in next to her, pushing one of the displaced books off to the side, laying down to watch her. "Believe me, I've tried,” she continued, not looking at him, “I tried so hard when I was a little kid with all the mutants on TV, and then I told myself, ' _I'll get my powers when I'm older, when I go through puberty, when I'm in high school,_ ' but they never _came_!" she said, and leaned over into his shoulder, and he realized she was crying- sobbing- and he didn’t know if it was about the powers thing, or- everything else. 

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Wanda’s mother peered in. _What now?_ Pietro thought, praying that it wasn’t more bad news, that his father hadn’t called Wanda’s parents and told them, but she didn’t seem particularly shocked or angry, so… 

"Wanda, dear, are you alright?" Mrs. Maximoff looked around the room at the destruction from the use of Wanda’s powers, and then to the two of them on Wanda’s bed, Pietro still stroking her hair as she cried on his shoulder, "I didn't know... Pietro was here, dear. I'll just.. leave you two."

And so Wanda just cried, for awhile. She didn’t know why there were so many tears, but they just kept coming, and Pietro didn’t know what to do but hold her, so he did. Finally, the tears stopped, and Wanda looked up, eyes rimmed red. She wiped them, and her nose, on the sleeve of her shirt, and just put her head back down on Pietro’s shoulder. 

Finally, Pietro broke the silence, with a quiet, “What are we going to do about this?”

“This?”

“The whole _you’re my sister_ , thing, Wanda,” Pietro said, and he sounded… almost as emotionally wrought as she did. 

“Oh,” Wanda said slowly. “I’d almost forgotten about that.” In light of other things. 

“I wish I could,” he said. “I don’t even know how to- to process this!” he said, sounding frustrated again. “Twenty minutes ago you were my girlfriend, the _love of my life_ , and now you’re… you’re supposed to be my sister. Just like that!” he said, sounding incredibly frustrated. But not at her, she knew. At his- _their_ father. 

It seemed strange, all of a sudden. She’d wondered who they were, all this time, the family who had given her up- she didn’t want to know them, not really, because they couldn’t be good people, giving her up for what she was, but they were thrust into her lap anyway and she didn’t _want_ them, she didn’t _want_ to know. And wasn’t it funny? She turned out to have the thing they so desperately wanted, after all. _A little too late_ , she thought bitterly. She didn’t want it. She didn’t want _any_ of it. 

“It seems a waste, then,” Wanda said, with a sigh, as he settled back down in with her, “now that we know I’m a mutant, you know? Growing up as a human, without you.”

“But I wouldn’t have known you like this, then,” he said, “I wouldn’t change a thing, honestly,” he said, “would you?” He almost sounded hopeful. 

“No,” she said, truthfully. “Except maybe meeting your father without a shirt on,” she said, and giggled. It startled a laugh out of Pietro, for the first time in what seemed like forever, even though it was just scarce hours ago. “Everything’s going to change, isn’t it?” Wanda asked in a small voice.

“Yes it is,” Pietro said, with a sigh. 

“So what are we, now?” Wanda asked, finally, because they weren’t siblings, but they weren’t.. what they were, were they?

“I don’t know. You’re my sister, but… it doesn’t just change the way I feel about you,” he said. He was still holding her, like he had, a hundred times before. It felt all so familiar, just like it had been, and for a moment, if she allowed herself to drift, she could almost forget today. 

Which made it so much easier to say, “I love you.”

“That’s all I know,” she said sighing. “What did we say, on our birthday? ‘All we’ll ever need is each other,’” she pulled herself up, and looked down to where he was still laying on her bed. She searched his eyes, and felt him suck in a breath, in _anticipation_ , and hoped she was going the right thing as she leaned in and kissed him.

It was the first time since his father had torn them apart. It had only been an hour, but it seemed like so much longer. “All I’ll ever need is you, Pietro,” she whispered. He looked wrecked, “I know who I am, it doesn’t matter if I have-” she waved her hand, swallowing. She didn’t know what happened, or how to control it _at all_ , she couldn’t even feel it. It was hidden so deep within her that even Sentinel tech couldn’t bring it out, but like… like her brother, and her… father… she had it too. “-whatever, I’m still me. And you’re still _you_ , and I _love_ you.

“And you’re right, things are going to change. But I don’t _want_ them to, and I can be in control of this thing- and you can too, and if you love me as much as I love you, they don’t have to change, not for us,” she said, in a rush. _Please say yes_ , she thought. 

Pietro had been watching her, but he nodded slowly. He pulled himself up, and they were facing each other, still both sitting on the bed. He reached up, and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, and she couldn’t help but smile, if a little watery. He smiled too, and reached for her hand. “Lunch?” She nodded, and he sat up. She had no idea what was going to happen, but like the rest of her life, she hoped to face it hand in hand with him. 

Downstairs, Wanda’s mother- her _real_ mother, her mother who loved her, who wouldn't give her up for anything- was bustling around in the kitchen, trying to look like she wasn’t waiting to know what was happening with her daughter. Wanda and Pietro stepped down, holding hands, lightly, but her mother still asked, like it could be the most devastating thing in their young lives, "Did you two break up?"

Wanda glanced at Pietro, and said firmly, "No. We're still together."

Pietro nodded with her, "We didn't break up." 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I am NOT writing any kind of sequel for this, however short. However, if you’re wondering: nobody tells Wanda’s parents that she and the Lehnsherr’s are related, they all (and by all, I mean Wanda and Pietro tell Erik who doesn’t really care as long as his kids are no longer screwing) decide it’s probably better if Wanda’s parents don’t find out their daughter’s first boyfriend is actually her brother. The twins tell Erik they’ve broken up, while, of course, they continue to date and spend approximately all of their time together before leaving for college (together). 
> 
> Erik, of course, keeps a watchful eye when he’s home, but he lets it go after while, assuming that the horror of finding out the person you’re screwing is related to you is enough to stop teenage love (it’s not.) (Nothing stops teenage love. Teenage love overpowers the horror that is screwing your brother.) They get a happy ending. 
> 
> \---
> 
>  
> 
> [Here's the photo set I made for this fic](http://scarlettwittch.tumblr.com/post/98686998812/aus-ill-never-write-high-school)
> 
> (Also comment if you liked it!! I love hearing from you guys c: )


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